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News from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
New Gift Will Help
UAMS Shine "Floodlight" on Genetics of Multiple Myeloma
| DEC.
19, 2002 | A
gene researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences (UAMS), where researchers have achieved a survival
rate for the rare and deadly cancer multiple myeloma that is
twice the overall average, is among the first recipients of
the Fund to Cure Myeloma.
An anonymous benefactor has established
the fund and appointed some of the world’s leading experts
in multiple myeloma research to decide how to distribute the
monies over the next five years. The gift of $500,000 to UAMS
is one of the first the fund has made.
Although the median survival rate for myeloma patients in the
United States is roughly 2.5 to three years, researchers at
UAMS have achieved a median survival rate of six to seven
years, attracting so many patients that UAMS has become the
largest myeloma treatment and research center in the world.
John Shaughnessy, Jr., Ph.D., at UAMS will
use the grant from the Fund to Cure Myeloma in his work to
identify genetic "profiles" for different variations
of the cancer. Dr. Shaughnessy is director of the Donna D. and
Donald M. Lambert Laboratory of Myeloma Genetics at UAMS’s
Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.
The news magazine "U.S. News and World
Report" singled Dr. Shaughnessy out earlier this year for
his innovative genetic research, noting that he "has
already begun to make sense of the genetic chaos of multiple
myeloma."
Shaughnessy and other researchers at UAMS are focusing on two
issues: why some persons with multiple myeloma live so much
longer than others, and why the disease almost always causes
the patient’s bones to literally disintegrate.
Looking for clues about the causes of
multiple myeloma has been like "walking around in a dark
room with a pin light," Dr. Shaughnessy says. Now with
gene expression microarray technology, "we are using a
floodlight." Scientists use microarray technology to
determine which of the estimated 35,000 human genes are
"turned on" or turned off" in cancer cells.
The variability in myeloma survival "is
vast, with some patients succumbing within months while others
can live for a decade," Dr. Shaughnessy says. Currently
only 20 percent of this variability can be explained. The hope
is that scientists can link distinct "profiles" of
"on," or expressed, genes to variation in myeloma
patient outcomes. The profiles will help
physicians match treatments to individual patients, for
so-called "personalized medicine." Physicians could
choose to use experimental treatments for patients whose
profiles suggest that they will not live long on conventional
therapy, according to Dr. Shaughnessy.
A type of cancer that affects plasma cells,
multiple myeloma typically affects middle-aged or elderly
persons. Approximately 15,000 new cases are diagnosed each
year. There is no known cure for the disease, although lengthy
remissions can often be achieved. The immediate goal in
treating multiple myeloma is to get the disease under control
and to keep the patient in remission with a good quality of
life for as long as possible. Disease control can be
complicated by a tendency for myeloma cells to become
resistant to chemotherapeutic agents. By comparing the
"profiles" of cells at diagnosis and at relapse, Dr.
Shaughnessy is also attempting to identify molecular
mechanisms of drug resistance.
UAMS is Arkansas’s leading institution for
health-related research, with established groups of scientists
in most major fields of interest to the National Institutes of
Health. Several research groups at UAMS, in addition to
scientists in the Lambert
Laboratory, are conducting studies in genomics, the
discipline that identifies genes, their interactions, and
their effects on biological processes, such as the progress of
different cancers.
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John Shaughnessy, Ph.D., of the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences points to a highly
enlarged view of a gene array from a multiple myeloma tumor
sample. The lighter squares correspond to genes that are “turned
on” and distinct to persons with the disease. These genes
may prove useful in predicting response to treatment. (Keith
Moore)
Click on photo for larger view.
John Shaughnessy, Ph.D., of the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences inserts an Affymetrix GeneChip™, capable of
investigating the “on/off” status of 12,000 genes, into a
laser scanner that converts biological information into a
digital image. Shaughnessy uses computer software to compare
lighter squares (turned-on genes) to darker squares
(turned-off genes) in plasma cells from patients with multiple
myeloma and in normal healthy subjects. He also contrasts the
status of these genes within
the myeloma patient population to create gene “profiles”
for different responses to myeloma treatment. (Keith
Moore)Click on
photo for larger view.
Gene expression levels are proportional to intensity of
fluorescence. Expressed, or “turned-on,” genes are clearly
lighter than non-expressed genes in this highly-enlarged view
of a gene microarray. (UAMS) Click on photo for larger view.
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Links
on This Page
Lambert Laboratory: http://lambertlab.uams.edu/
Molecular, Genetic Scientists: http://www.uams.edu/today/2002/090502/cmresearch.htm
UAMS, Partners: http://www.uams.edu/today/092701/partners.htm
Cellular and Molecular Research: http://www.uams.edu/today/092701/video.htm
© 2002 University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). A single copy of these
materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use
only. "UAMS," "UAMS Online," "UAMS
Today," "UAMS Update," "uams.edu,"
and "Here’s to Your Health" are marks of UAMS.
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08/08/03 |
