Susanna Fletcher Greer: V Foundation funding leads to deeper discoveries like this one in T-ALL

Susanna Fletcher Greer, Chief Scientific Officer at The V Foundation for Cancer Research, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Anastasia Tikhonova et al. published in Science Translational Medicine:

“Dr. Anastasia Tikhonova, a V Foundation grantee made a recent groundbreaking discovery in her work on T-ALL – an aggressive blood cancer that remains difficult to treat, especially in adults and patients who relapse after chemotherapy.

Dr. Tikhonova expressed deep gratitude to the V Foundation for supporting this work: ‘I received the V Scholar Award just a year after starting my lab in the midst of a global pandemic. Your support allowed us to analyze a large cohort of patients, identify key patterns, and pursue discoveries that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to chase.’

Our deep gratitude to Dr. Tikhonova and team for their tireless work on behalf of cancer patients – your research is having real impact. Job well done!

V Foundation funding leads to deeper discoveries like this one in T-lineage acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL).

T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive blood cancer that remains difficult to treat, especially in adults and patients who relapse after chemotherapy.

A groundbreaking study from the V Foundation grantee Dr. Anastasia Tikhonova and her team Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, published in Science Translational Medicine, is shedding new light on how we can better identify and treat high-risk patients.

Dr. Tikhonova, a 2021 V Scholar Award recipient, expressed deep gratitude to the V Foundation for supporting this work: ‘I received the V Scholar Award just a year after starting my lab in the midst of a global pandemic. Your support allowed us to analyze a large cohort of patients, identify key patterns, and pursue discoveries that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to chase.’

Until now, oncologist have relied on traditional markers to classify T-ALL patients, but these classifications often fail to predict how well a patient will respond to treatment. Dr. Tikhonova’s team took a different approach by using cutting-edge multiomics technology, which essentially is a deep dive into the genetic and molecular makeup of leukemia cells.

Their analysis revealed a previously unrecognized group of patients whose leukemia cells show signs of inflammation and stem-like behavior. This inflammatory leukemia subtype is particularly resistant to standard chemotherapy drugs like dexamethasone but has a surprising vulnerability: it responds well to venetoclax, a drug currently used for other blood cancers.

For patients with this inflammatory form of T-ALL, these findings could be life-changing. Chemotherapy resistance often means limited treatment options and poor survival rates. But by identifying this distinct subtype, oncologists could soon have a new way to determine which patients are likely to benefit from venetoclax, offering them a more precise and effective treatment option.

Dr. Tikhonova’s discovery underscores the power of research to transform patient outcomes. It also highlights the importance of funding early-career scientists like Dr. Tikhonova, whose work is driving the next generation of cancer breakthroughs. By investing in innovative approaches, we are not just understanding leukemia better, we are giving real hope to the patients who need it most.

Read Dr. Tikhonova’s paper and find out more about the lab.”

“An inflammatory state defines a high-risk T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia subgroup”

Authors: Mark Gower, Ximing Li, Alicia Aguilar-Navarro, Soheil Jahangiri, Anastasia Tikhonova et al.

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