Translating Science from the Bench to the Bedside of Patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Investigators: Stephen Ansell, M.D., Ph.D., Diane Jelinek, Ph.D.

"Our goal is to develop new immunotherapies that are gentler than traditional therapies - then get them to our patients as quickly as possible."
Stephen Ansell. M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Ansell's work spans the research continuum, from basic investigations at the molecular level, through validating animal studies, to clinical trials - and into the lives of cancer patients. Drs. Ansell and Jelinek are advancing the developments of biologic therapies for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, working together to devise new immunotherapy treatment strategies. They then move these novel treatments to and through clinical trials - and get them to cancer patients as quickly as possible.

The traditional basic approach to treating cancers is to pour in the chemicals of chemotherapy, which are cellular poisons that kill everything, hoping that only the non-cancerous cells come back. The researchers' work is to try and leave the healthy cells and kill just the cancerous ones.

They concentrate on better ways to identify the biologic processes and pathways involved in cancer cell growth. With this knowledge they hope to identify target sites at which cancer cells are most susceptible. They can then develop new therapies that attack cancers at their most vulnerable points. A second, related focus of the lab is to develop therapies that enhance the immune system by stimulating molecules in the body that initiate or boost immune function.

The body does not recognize cancer cells, so by improving the immune system's ability to focus on them, immune system reactions can be controlled, and physicians will be able to manipulate the biology of immune system responses to kill the bad cells.

In a third effort, the researchers are looking at Survivin, one molecule in an extensive family of molecules that inhibit apoptosis - the natural death of cells. It is also central to lymphoma cell division. Dr. Ansell's group is working on a molecular tool, an anti-sense oligonucleotide, to block the action of Survivin. Animal studies demonstrate that blocking Survivin stops lymphoma cells growing, increases apoptosis, and renders cancer cells easier to kill with other biologic agents.