Exploring Treatment Strategies in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Daniel Herranz Benito, PharmD, PhD, resident researcher at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, has received a five-year, $600,000 award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) to support ongoing research efforts in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).  Members of the Herranz Laboratory are currently working to discover and define how oncogenic and tumor suppressor enhancers impact the formation of hematological tumors and dissect the interplay between cancer cell-specific metabolic rewiring and epigenetics in T-ALL and hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTL). 

“Despite advances in treatments, 20 to 50 percent of patients with T-ALL relapse and have an extremely poor prognosis. In addition, HSTL is a rare but incurable disease, highlighting the need to explore the genetic components that lead to the formation of T-ALL and HSTL, as well as the need to discover new targeted therapeutic approaches and treatment resistance,” notes Dr. Herranz, who is also an assistant professor of pharmacology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “I am extremely grateful to LLS for the support we have received for this critical work.”   

The scholar award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society supports rising stars in the blood cancer research field and is awarded to those who are highly qualified in the field of hematologic malignancies.