$2.4M NCI Award Funds Discoveries of Lymphoma Biology, New Potential Drug Target
Sylvester researchers believe GAK could be a powerful drug target to combat large B-cell lymphoma
MIAMI, FLORIDA (SEPT. 3, 2025) – Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, have received a four-year, $2.4M award from the National Cancer Institute to further explore their discovery of a new role for a protein, GAK, in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) – the most common form of blood cancer.
The research team, led by Jonathan Schatz, professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology at Sylvester and Hassan Al Ali, associate professor of neurological surgery and medicine at the Miller School of Medicine, will further explore this previously undiscovered aspect of cancer biology and investigate the possibility of treating DLBCL by targeting GAK. The team’s grant proposal was ranked in the top 1% of all submissions nationwide.
DLBCL makes up nearly a third of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases, with more than 30,000 new diagnoses every year in the U.S. Front-line therapies for the disease can be very effective, but leave around one-third of patients uncured, Schatz said. Immunotherapies, including cellular therapy, can cure some patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL, but many are left without other options to treat their disease.
The team’s finding that GAK may play an important role in lymphoma came from a new technique that combines screening and AI technologies, devised by Dr. Ali and Vance Lemmon, professor of neurological surgery at the Miller School of Medicine. The scientists aimed to improve the discovery of new drug targets, thereby streamlining the drug discovery process and reducing costs and time before new treatments make it to patients. Their platform is aimed at identifying cellular enzymes known as kinases that play many important roles in our cells.
“We think GAK presents a very promising opportunity to define some new biology of mitosis, develop new understanding of cell cycle deregulation in lymphoma, and open up a new target for exploitation for drugs in lymphoma,” said Schatz.
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