Consortium to Increase Knowledge in Genetic Alterations in Haematologic Cancers

French pre-clinical stage biotechnology company Advanced Biodesign, a developer of treatment against resistant cancers, has joined 27 other European academic and industrial organisations from 11 countries to form the multidisciplinary science consortium, ENHPATHY.
“ENHPATHY is expected to improve the genetic knowledge around enhanceropathies, such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, obesity, diabetes and developmental disorders, in order to improve diagnosis, therapy, genetic counselling and prevention in patients,” said Salvatore Spicuglia, director of research at TAGC (INSERM - Aix-Marseille University) and coordinator of ENHPATHY.
In genetics, enhancers are a short region of DNA that can be bound by proteins to increase the likelihood that transcription of a particular gene will occur. Just as mutations within coding genes have traditionally been considered the major genetic cause of human disease, it is becoming increasingly clear that the genetic, structural and/or epigenetic disruption of enhancers and enhancer landscapes represent major etiological factors in numerous human diseases. These pathologies linked to enhancers (enhanceropathies) can be the cause of a wide variety of diseases such as rare hereditary diseases, cancer or diabetes. Although their pathological and therapeutic repercussions are known, the molecular mechanisms of regulation of our genes by enhancers have little description, limiting their exploitation in treating diseases.
One characteristic of the project was the hiring of early stage researchers by the consortium partners, which includes leaders in molecular biology, computational biology and human genetics, said Mileidys Perez, CSO, and ENHPATHY project manager for Advanced Biodesign “These early researchers are expected to move from one partner to another during this time which will improve the transfer of experience.”
 “ENHPATHY represents a great opportunity for Advanced BioDesign to work in close collaboration with European leaders to improve the scientific knowledge around clinical actionable genetic alterations in patients with cancer, particularly acute myeloid leukemia,” said Ismail Ceylan, CEO, Advanced BioDesign. “Improving understanding of the regulation mechanisms of our therapeutic target will allow us to adapt our future clinical trials with personalised treatment, thus improving the likelihood of success and facilitating the translation of findings from bench to market.”
 The ENHPATHY research program, which was scheduled to start at the beginning of March this year will receive a budget of €4 million ($4.4 million) to support innovative training programs and cooperation between its academic and industry partners.