Theodore Braun, MD, PhD

Many people are diagnosed each year with blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms, or MPNs. These cancers cause the body to make too many blood cells. Doctors treat MPNs with medicines that block the signals telling cancer cells to grow. These medicines work well for many patients at first. But over time, the cancer often stops responding. When this happens, patients have very few options left.We have found a clue that helps explain why some cancers stop responding to treatment. Certain gene changes, in genes called ASXL1 and SETBP1, cause cancer cells to form protein clusters inside the cell nucleus. These clusters act like command centers that keep cancer genes switched on, even when treatment is trying to shut them down. This makes the cancer much harder to kill.The good news is that we have found drugs that can break up these clusters. In our early studies, these drugs worked well in cancer cells grown in the lab and in animal models. Now we want to understand exactly how these clusters form and how best to destroy them. We will build cancer models in the lab that closely mimic what we see in patients. We will then test new drug combinations to find the best strategy for shutting down these command centers.Our goal is to use what we learn to launch a new clinical trial at OHSU within three years. We hope this work will give patients with treatment-resistant MPNs new options and ultimately help them live longer, healthier lives.