August 1, 2016

Dr. Siegfried “Siggy” Janz received a two-year NIH/NCI R21 research grant, entitled “Validation of FOXM1 as a new therapeutic target in high-risk myeloma.”

The proposed studies seek to follow up on recent findings by the University of Iowa Myeloma Multi-disciplinary Oncology Group (MOG) indicating that the elevated expression of the forkhead box M1 transcription factor, FOXM1, is a feature of high-risk myeloma that prognosticates poor survival.

This finding, in conjunction with preliminary results obtained in close association with Drs. Guido Tricot and Fenghuang “Frank” Zhan (Internal Medicine) and Dr. Carol Holman (Pathology), led to the hypothesis that targeted inhibition of FOXM1 affords a promising treatment opportunity for high-risk myeloma.

Evaluating this hypothesis using human myeloma cell lines, tumor samples from patients with myeloma and transgenic mouse models of human myeloma is the principal aim of the new research grant.