Andy Rawstron, M.D., Ph.D. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (United Kingdom)

NEW ANTIBODIES AND MRD

Identification and validation of potential targets for the diagnosis and therapy of CLL

Grant Awarded in 2008

Abstract:

CLL treatment is becoming increasingly effective and resulting in longer disease-free survival but is currently not curative and still needs improvement. Most treatment approaches now include one or more therapeutic antibodies. Ideally, the target of a therapeutic antibody is a protein that is present at a high level on the malignant cells but is not present on normal cells. As of yet, there are no therapeutic antibodies with this profile available for CLL treatment.

Large-scale studies of gene expression have identified a number of candidate genes which code for proteins that are potential antibody targets, but few of these candidates have been validated at the protein level. We will use new technology that allows relatively cheap, small-scale preparation of reagents that will be used to validate these candidate protein targets. Targets that are also present on normal cells, and therefore unsuitable for therapeutic antibodies, can be used to improve the specificity and sensitivity of laboratory-based assays for diagnosis and monitoring of disease, and in turn, these assays can help optimize treatment.