Winter 2024
By Kathy Clute
Photography by Sam Ogden
The V Foundation for Cancer Research is taking aim at acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children with an $800,000 grant that will enhance the search for more effective and durable treatments for the disease.
Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber and the David G. Nathan, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, is the recipient of a four-year Pediatric Translational Research Grant from the foundation. Armstrong, who also serves as the Institute’s senior vice president for drug discovery and chief research strategy officer, directs a 20-person lab that is focused on developing new therapies for childhood cancers.
AML is a particularly challenging type of leukemia to treat, especially in children, who have had to rely on toxic chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants for decades. A new class of drugs called menin inhibitors, which can be taken orally, has shown real promise for treating difficult subtypes of AML. However, disease resistance develops in some patients when the menin gene mutates during treatment.
“We’ve documented the mutations and are now trying to find ways to overcome and possibly prevent the disease from becoming drug resistant,” said Armstrong, who is researching next-generation menin inhibitors and treatments. “We hope that our work will eventually make chemotherapy unnecessary by bringing menin inhibitors and other targeted therapies into the standard of care for children with newly diagnosed or refractory AML.”
The V Foundation was founded in 1993 by ESPN and famed basketball coach Jim Valvano with the mission of achieving victory over cancer. It has supported pioneering cancer research at Dana-Farber for nearly 30 years.
“It is exciting to contemplate the transformation in pediatric AML treatment that could come out of Dr. Armstrong’s lab.”
Kara Coleman, PhD, V Foundation for Cancer Research
“We fund the best ideas from the best cancer researchers in the country so that they can make discoveries that benefit cancer patients everywhere,” said Kara Coleman, PhD, vice president of grants and research at the V Foundation. “It is exciting to contemplate the transformation in pediatric AML treatment that could come out of Dr. Armstrong’s lab.”