The blood system is made up of different types of blood cells (red cells, white cells, platelets etc). The correct number of each type of cell is controlled by chemical messengers called cytokines. Because overactive cytokine signalling can lead to inflammatory disease and leukemia it is tightly controlled by the other molecules in the body. This project aims to determine the exact mechanism whereby this is achieved with the aim of developing therapies to treat inflammatory disease and leukemia.
A number of Leukemias, lymphomas and other blood malignancies are caused by mutations in a protein called JAK (Janus Kinase). To combat this human cells produce a protein that inhibits JAK (called SOCS). We aim to study how this process works and to mimic SOCS with a drug in order to treat leukemia.