Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) is the most common form of leukaemia and is an aggressive bone marrow malignancy characterized by aberrant proliferation of myeloid progenitor cells that have lost the ability to differentiate into mature cells and thereby interfere with the production of normal blood cells. Despite substantial progress in the development of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation over the last 30 years, survival remains poor: the 5-year overall survival in adults remains <30%.
Given the complex genetics underlying AML, we are undertaking a multi-pronged approach to identify new treatments for this disease. This talk will outline our work in separate medicinal chemistry projects targeting AML as well as preliminary data from phenotypic screening studies.