The goal of the Hematopoiesis and Hematologic Malignancies (HHM) research program at IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center is to enhance treatment of hematologic malignancies, with a focus on leukemia, pre-leukemia, and multiple myeloma.
We conduct rigorous basic mechanistic scientific laboratory research, including in vitro cell culture and in vivo pre-clinical animal studies using mouse and human cells.
Identify the cell intrinsic and microenvironmental-mediated mechanisms involved in regulating the self-renewal and differentiation of normal and transformed hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).
Define the mechanisms involved in enhancing HSPCs’ survival as well as decreasing treatment-related toxicity (in particular GvHD in bone marrow transplantation) in the therapeutic strategies involving hematopoietic stem cells.
Determine the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms used by hematologic malignancies to promote their survival and confer resistance to treatment.
Characterize the immunobiology of hematologic malignancies and utilize this understanding to develop novel therapeutic approaches.
Our patients lead us to think harder about these diseases and to generate new ideas.
Utpal Davé, MD — HHM program member
In April 2020, the FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee unanimously approved a new antibody therapy for patients with relapsed myeloma.
HHM member Attaya Suvannasankha, MD, served as the principal investigator of the trial, known as the DREAMM-2 Study.
Dr. Suvannasankha, the Carol Edwards Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at IU School of Medicine, was recently appointed co-chair of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium’s Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trial Working Group.
Cancer. 2021 Nov Lancet Oncol. 2020 Feb
HHM program co-leader Reuben Kapur, PhD, is director of the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, as well as vice chair for basic science research at IU School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics.
Nationally recognized for his work in pediatric blood cancers, Kapur earned two major grants—nearly $4 million in funding—for his research on juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.
His work on obesity-related inflammation and leukemia development was featured in the “Best of Session” at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in December 2021.
HHM member Brian Walker, PhD, studies DNA and abnormal plasma cell samples in smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) patients.
His challenge: Identifying why some SMM patients progress faster than others so they can be monitored more closely or treated before symptoms begin.
Dr. Walker was senior author on a paper in the February 2022 of Leukemia and participated in 10 abstract presentations at the 2021 meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
