Immune therapies as a lens on leukemia biology
The Bhagwat Lab studies the origins and biology of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with a particular focus on how an AML cell’s history as a normal, myeloid-skewed hematopoietic progenitor shapes its behavior as a cancer cell.
Lineage memory in AML
We use immune therapies as a lens to reveal the biological programs AML cells carry from their normal origins. Because myeloid cells are often inherently responsive to immune signals, we reason that the ways AML cells interact with immune cells and immune therapies can reveal fundamental features of their biology and, importantly, how they will respond to treatment.
How AML exploits CAR T cells
We recently discovered that AML blasts retain lineage-encoded responses to myeloid growth factors such as GM-CSF and IL-3. Because activated T cells can produce these cytokines, AML cells can exploit signals from CAR T cells to promote their survival and to resist immune-mediated killing.
Findings like these reveal how the developmental history of AML cells can directly shape therapeutic response.
Read the paper in Nature Medicine →Therapies that overcome resistance
These insights guide a translational arm of the lab focused on developing therapies that overcome AML resistance.
