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Christoph Rader and William Roush Awarded $1.4 Million Leukemia Research Grant

Christoph Rader, an associate professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), and William Roush, TSRI professor, associate dean of graduate studies and executive director of medicinal chemistry, have been awarded more than $1.4 million from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a potential new drug to attack the malignant cells that cause chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in the Western world.

Rader will serve as principal investigator of the new three-year study, and Roush will be co-principal investigator.

The Scripps Florida scientists, who will be working with the NIH laboratories of Adrian Wiestner and Terrence Burke, plan to use the recently discovered cell surface receptor TOSO, which is overexpressed in leukemia cells, to create a rapid and effective entry point for delivering drugs to these malignant cells while bypassing normal cells as much as possible. In addition, the team plans to use an antibody fragment to add a second target to the treatment—the receptor tyrosine kinase ROR1, expressed exclusively in leukemia cells.

“This dual-targeting strategy will lay the foundation for further preclinical and clinical investigations in the treatment of this form of leukemia,” said Rader. “We also think that the novel biological and chemical components that come from this study can be easily exploited to develop combinations for diseases beyond CLL.”

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

Scripps Florida investigators Christoph Rader (top) and William Roush will lead a project to create a potential new drug for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common leukemia in the Western world. (Photos by James McEntee.)

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Christoph Rader and William Roush Awarded $1.4 Million Leukemia Research Grant