Further Exploring T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Rutgers Institute Researcher Awarded V Foundation for Cancer Research Grant

New Brunswick, N.J., October 15, 2023— Daniel Herranz Benito, PhD, PharmD, resident researcher at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and RWJBarnabas Health, the state’s leading cancer program and only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and assistant professor of pharmacology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has received $800,000 from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, a premier cancer research charity, to support his research on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), an aggressive type of leukemia that affects both children and adults.

Prior research suggests that certain drugs affect how leukemia metabolism works, so researchers explored if changing a person’s diet could be beneficial. In testing different diets on mice with leukemia, researchers found that mice eating food without the amino acid called histidine lived longer. In this project, investigators will examine mice with leukemia and samples from real patients to see how histidine affects cancer. They will also explore if combining histidine restriction with current treatments works even better.

The project will take place over a four-year period.