One million euros for a study that aims to develop targeted therapies to combat acute myeloid leukemia.
Dr. Giacomo Volpe, researcher in the diagnostic and cellular characterization laboratory relating to the complex Hematology structure of the Giovanni Paolo II Cancer Institute in Bari, has obtained funding from the Airc Foundation for cancer research Southern Italy Scholars.
“It is a prestigious result – states the general director Alessandro Delle Donne – because we were selected among the three studies financed by Airc for central and southern Italy and because our Institute confirms itself as a center of excellence recognized for the amount of translational oncology research projects .
Dr. Volpe’s study aims to generate clinically accurate cellular models to determine how the acquisition of specific mutations, particularly those found in the Cebpa gene, leads to the molecular alterations and resulting clinical manifestations typically observed in patients with this disease.” “The concrete objective of this study – explains Volpe – is to arrive at targeted and increasingly effective therapies, through the generation of accurate cellular models based on the somatic reprogramming technology of tumor cells.
All this allows the conversion of tumor cells into embryonic-like stem cells.” These cells, he concludes, “have the ability to be reconverted into blood cells, allowing us to understand at what point during the process of hematopoietic maturation, these mutations become effective leading to the development of the disease”.
