MPNRF HOSTS MEETING OF THE MINDS ON THE FUTURE OF IMMUNOTHERAPY IN MPN
What started as a series of questions about how long it would take to realize an immunotherapy based treatment for Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocythemia and Myelofibrosis resulted in a meeting of the minds in Chicago’s Gleacher Center. The MPNRF has funded several immunotherapy related projects focused on the MPNs, but the questions remained of what approch to focus on, what exactly are the roadblocks, and what might the timelin be from bench to bedside?
The choice of chairs for the meeting was obvious: Saar Gill, MD, PhD had assisted with several previous grant review sessions. He joined MPNRF’s own Scientific Advisor John Crispino, PhD, to pose questions to the presenters and guide the discussion into what could be actionable by the MPNRF.
Presenters were Drs. Vivian Oehler, Najla Arshad, Camelia Iancu-Rubin, Nina Bhardwaj and Michael Deininger. Drs. Robyn Scherber, Ann Mullally, Brady Stein, Craig Adams and Angela Fleischman participated in the discussion as well. The audience consisted of MPNRF staff and board members who represented MPN patients and family members, all eager to accelerate development of an immunotherapy-based treatment. Erik Nelson, Sr Director of Research Programs at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society also sat in on the meeting.
The goal of the meeting was to expose MPN researchers working on immunotherapy-related projects to each others’ work as well as to provide guidance for how MPNRF can best craft a research program that responds to the limitations and possibilities of this approach for MPNs. You will be hearing more about this soon in the coming months as research advances are made and as MPNRF invests in future projects aimed at improving outcomes for people living with PV, ET and MF.