Keck Foundation Awards $1.5 Million to Continue Lymphoma Study
Keck Foundation Awards $1.5 Million to Continue Lymphoma Study
The City of Hope has announced a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Los Angeles-based W.M. Keck Foundation to continue a collaborative study with the California Institute of Technology.
The foundation funded the first phase of the study to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying lymphoma and develop targeted, less-toxic treatments for the disease. During the pilot phase of the lymphoma study, researchers tested a compound comprised of a polymer — a molecule that does not stimulate the immune system and has very low toxicity — created by a Caltech researcher and an engineered antibody developed at City of Hope to see if it could attack only lymphoma cells without disturbing healthy cells. Such a targeted, less invasive therapy might also help lessen the side effects many patients experience with standard treatment.
Lymphoma develops in the immune system and is the fifth most common type of cancer in the United States. While control of the disease is possible through current standard treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, relapse is common and more effective therapies are needed.
"We have been able to gain a better understanding of lymphoma though our research with Caltech and have identified targets for potential new lymphoma therapies," said Dr. Stephen Forman of City of Hope, the principal investigator of the study. "There is a real need for improved treatments because not all lymphoma patients are able to tolerate chemotherapy and radiation. Our older patients, in particular, would greatly benefit from new targeted therapies."
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