Project led by Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos wins Research Scholarship in Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia

A project led by researcher Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos recently won the 2nd edition of the Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) Research Scholarship , a prize awarded by the Portuguese Association Against Leukemia (Associação Portuguesa Contra a Leucemia - APCL) and the Sociedade Portuguesa de Hematologia (Portuguese Society of Hematology), with the support of Amgen Biofarmacêutica, to the amount of 15 thousand euros. The winning project promises to revolutionize the treatment of this pathology in adults and children in more advanced stages

Entitled “Central nervous system infiltration mechanisms in Philadelphia chromosome-type B-cell precursor leukemia (CENSIBALL)”, this project represents “one more step in the understanding of the mechanisms and therapies that can face the evolution of the most aggressive forms of this pathology”, explains researcher Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos.

“In the most aggressive cases of ALL (adults and children in more advanced stages), an in-depth cellular and molecular analysis is needed to understand which therapies are most effective. Through tests in animal models that reflect the most aggressive cases of ALL (namely cases with activation of the JAK2 kinase together with the elimination of the tumor suppressor CDKN2A), it will be possible to evaluate in detail the alterations associated with genetics and treat the more aggressive disease”. The objective, underlines Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos, “is to understand the resistance to therapy and to study strategies that have a significant impact on the patient’s prognosis, opening the way for future pre-clinical therapeutic studies”.

As part of the project, the team will also identify molecules in leukemic cells that promote invasion of the central nervous system and that lead to neurological symptoms in patients. “Currently there are no specific therapies to eliminate leukemic cells from the central nervous system. This project aims to also evaluate the progression behavior of ALL to create protective barriers against these cells, that is, we are going to identify the agents needed to prevent the progression of the disease to the central nervous system, instead of acting only in one phase advanced disease”, adds the researcher.

The winning team of this Scholarship benefits from a multidisciplinary team that includes Luís Maia, neurologist at the University Hospital Center of Porto and researcher at i3S, Matthias Futschik, researcher at the Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine, Dulcineia Pereira and Ricardo Pinto, hematologists at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto and the University Hospital Center of S. João, respectively.