2002 Grant Recipients

2002 Senior Research Award Winners

Bjarne Bogen, MD, PhD

University of Oslo

"Immunotherapy of Multiple Myeloma: Reversal of Tolerance and Improved Id-Vaccination"

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Marta Chesi, PhD

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

"The Role of MMSET in Multiple Myeloma"

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Daniel Donoghue, PhD

University of California, San Diego

"Pyk2 Phosphorylation by FGFR3 in Multiple Myeloma"

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Laurie Glimcher, MD

Harvard School of Public Health

"Is the Transcription Factor XBP-1 a Critical Target for Proteasome Inhibitors in Multiple Myeloma? "

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Benedikt Kessler, PhD

Harvard Medical School

"Probing the Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway in Multiple Myeloma"

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Weiqun Li, MD

Georgetown University Medical School

"Dissecting the PI3K/PTEN/Akt/NF-kB Pathway in Myeloma Malignant Transformation"

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Derek Nigel John Hart, MB, ChB, DPhil

Mater Medical Research Institute, Australia

"Purified Blood DC Vaccination with Multiple Myeloma"

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Surinder Sahota, PhD

Southampton University Hospitals

"Identifying New Antigens for Targeted Therapy in Multiple Myeloma"

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Yu-Tzu Tai, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

"Biologic Sequelae of CD40 Signaling in Human Multiple Myeloma"

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Amittha Wickrema, PhD

University of Chicago

"Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 as a Potential Target for Therapy in Multiple Myeloma"

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2002 Fall Senior Research Award Winners

Robert Fenton, MD, PhD

University of Maryland, Baltimore

"Anti-Apoptosis Mechanisms of Mcl-1 in Multiple Myeloma"

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Jonathan Licht, MD

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

"Functional Characterization of the Multiple Myeloma Set Domain Protein"

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John Lust, MD, PhD

Mayo Clinic

"Inhibition of IL-1 in the Myeloma Microenvironment"

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Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

"The IGF/IGF-1R System as a Major Therapeutic Target for Myeloma"

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G. David Roodman, MD, PhD

University of Pittsburgh

"p62ZIP and Myeloma Bone Diseases"

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Frits van Rhee, MD, PhD

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

"Immunotherapy with Myeloma-specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes"

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2002 Fellows' Award Winners

Ramesh Batchu, PhD

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

"Cytolytic T Lymphocyte (CTL) Mediated Immunotherapy of Multiple Myeloma Using Gene Modified Dendritic Cells"

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Manual Macapinlac, Jr., MD

New York University School of Medicine

"Role of STAT3 in Multiple Myeloma"

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Daniel Man-Yuen Sze, PhD

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Australia

"High Potency Immunodominant Peptide Immunotherapy"

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Yulia Nefedova, MD, PhD

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida

"Role of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells in De Novo Resistance of Myeloma Cells to Chemotherapeutic Drugs"

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Yijiang Shi, PhD

West Los Angeles VA Hospital of the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

"The AKT-mTOR Pathway in Multiple Myeloma"

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Leonardo Andres Sirulnik, MD, PhD

Mount Sinai Medical School-Mount Sinai Medical Center

"Functional Characterization of the Multiple Myeloma SET Domain (MMSET) Protein"

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Suzanne Trudel, MD, MSc

Weill Medical College of Cornell

"Therapuetic Intervention in Myeloma: FGFR3 as Drug Target"

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2002 Collaborative Program Grant

$1.5 million grant awarded to Johns Hopkins University researchers

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), the world's largest private funder of myeloma-specific research, is pleased to announce that a team of researchers from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is the recipient of its 2002 Collaborative Program Grant. The grant, which provides $1.5 million to researchers over a 3-year period, is designed to foster unique collaborations among researchers and institutions to help bring new therapies to clinic quickly.

The principal investigators are:

Ivan Borello, MD

Ephraim Fuchs, MD

Richard Jones, MD

Hyam Levitsky, MD

Leo Luznik, MD

William Matsui, MD

Project Summary

Immune recognition of multiple myeloma is evident from animal models and analysis of patient samples. Indeed, remissions induced by allogeneic lymphocytes highlight the anti-tumor immune response as the only therapy currently capable of fully eradicating the malignant clone. This project focuses on three critical aspects of myeloma biology and the anti-myeloma immune response, and each seeks to augment the therapeutic efficacy and specificity of the response.

Project 1, led by Drs. Levitsky and Borello, builds upon preliminary studies of marrow infiltrating lymphocytes (MILs) obtained from patients in our ongoing myeloma tumor-cell based vaccine trial. The frequency, avidity, and function of myeloma-specific T-cells within this population will be examined, and strategies for the ex vivo expansion of such cells will be optimized for use in adoptive immunotherapy.
Project 2, led by Drs. Jones and Matsui, studies the phenotype and antigenic profile of myeloma progenitor cells, which are the ultimate target for any curative therapy.
Project 3, led by Drs. Fuchs and Luznik, examines the relative efficacy of allogeneic and post-transplant vaccine induced tumor-specific immunity as well as the role of host and donor T cells in anti-tumor immunity after non-myeloablative allogeneic bone marrow transplant for multiple myeloma.

All three projects utilize a cell-processing/immune monitoring core for the efficient retrieval and standardized analysis of patient samples.