Research Type: Leukemia
Project Description
Our studies are focused on understanding the role of dietary selenium to improve the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Relapse of AML is driven by stubborn cells called leukemia-initiating stem cells (LICs); these cells can survive even after many rounds of treatment. A previous grant from AICR helped us show that these stubborn cells are regulated by a ‘molecular switch’ called GPR44. This switch responds to natural compounds in the body called prostaglandin-J2 (PGJ2). Higher dietary selenium intake leads to higher levels of PGJ2 in the blood and this leads to the activation of the GPR44 “switch”, which helps kill cancer cells.
In further experiments, we found that if the GPR44 switch was missing, another protein called PD-L1 was increased in LICs. High levels of PD-L1 stop the immune system from attacking cancer cells, allowing the tumor to grow. Our new AICR-funded project will test if dietary selenium can reduce the immune weakening levels of PD-L1 by activating the GPR44 switch. This could help the immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells.
