Year 3

Acute myeloid leukemia is a group of serious blood malignant diseases. The treatment outcome is poor, in large part, to the fact that a small group of cells named leukemia stem cells can survive treatment, regenerate more leukemic cells and cause recurrence. This project aims to improve the treatment outcomes of acute leukemia by eradicating leukemia stem cells. During the previous two years, we identified several small molecules that can specifically bind to leukemia stem cells. Over the last one year, we determined that one of these small molecules has the potential to work like a “smart missile” to guide the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to leukemia stem cells. More specifically, we linked this small molecule on the surface of nanoparticles that are small particles with the size of about 1/100th of one micron (much smaller than the width of a human hair). Inside of these nanoparticles, we can load chemotherapeutic drugs. We found that our small molecules can specifically attach the nanoparticles to leukemia stem cells, and deliver the drug load to the inside of the cells. Therefore, these “smart” nanoparticles can potentially target leukemia stem cells, and eradicate leukemia from the very root. Furthermore, chemotherapeutic drugs formulated in these nanoparticles are less toxic, suggesting that high-dose chemotherapeutic drugs can be given to patients to treat leukemia without increasing the horrendous toxicity associated with regular chemotherapy.