Grant for research into acute leukemia in infants Drug repurposing with 6.000 existing drugs

Radboud university medical center has received a grant from the Children Cancer-free Foundation KiKa for research into a form of acute myeloid leukemia which predominantly occurs in infants. Researchers Bert van der Reijden from Radboudumc and Joost Martens from Radboud University are investigating the origins of this form of cancer. Additionally, they will be testing nearly 6,000 existing drugs to see if they can eliminate leukemia cells.

Each year, almost 600 children in the Netherlands are diagnosed with cancer. Currently, 81% of these children survive, but the majority of these survivors experience long-term effects of treatment later in life. Therefore, the Children Cancer-Free Foundation (KiKa) is allocating 4.2 million euros to various research projects, as announced on International Childhood Cancer Day 2024. Radboudumc is leading one of these studies.

Acute myeloid leukemia in infants – Bert van der Reijden

Molecular biologist Bert van der Reijden from Radboud university medical center, along with Joost Martens from Radboud University, will conduct research into a form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that mainly affects infants. In this specific form, the protein called HMX3 is activated. This protein is crucial for the survival of cancer cells and is not active in healthy blood cells. The researchers aim to better understand why this protein is so important for the cancer cell. With this knowledge, they may be able to develop new therapies that specifically target these leukemia cells. Additionally, they will investigate almost 6,000 existing drugs to see if any of them can deactivate HMX3 and thereby specifically kill the cancer cells.

Bert van der Reijden says, ‘We know that the HMX3 protein is key to acute myeloid leukemia in children. Through drug repurposing, we want to see if we can find compounds that can inhibit HMX3. We also want to gain more knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that HMX3 uses to cause leukemia with this project. Hopefully, this will lead to useful targets, enabling the development of HMX3 inhibitors to kill malignant blood cells in future studies.’