Kelly Turner

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a lethal hematological malignancy resulting from a chromosomal translocation in a hematopoietic stem cell. Efforts to combat this disease have resulted in the development of the first successful targeted cancer therapy, which has revolutionized disease management. However, primary and acquired resistance to the current therapeutic remains a significant issue, and leukemic stem cells remain insensitive to currently available drugs. To target this population of cells, I am studying the Hedgehog signaling pathway, which has recently been found to play a critical role in leukemic stem cell survival and maintenance. I hypothesize that suppression of this pathway will effectively target leukemic stem cells and provide a novel therapeutic approach to abrogate drug resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia patients.