News Release: Research, School of Medicine, Winship Cancer Institute

Oct. 22,  2008

Emory Scientist Earns American Cancer Society Grant to Fight Multiple Myeloma

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Emory cancer researcher Jing Chen, PhD, has earned a $720,000 award from the American Cancer Society to support his work on new drug targets in multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma is one of the most common blood cancers found in patients over 65 with more than 15,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

"Current chemotherapy and even newer reagents are inadequate in treating this disease," says Chen. "This award will help us to extend our work finding and validating critical signaling effectors that could be therapeutic targets in the future."

Chen is an assistant professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Winship Cancer Institute.

He and his colleagues recently identified ribosomal S6 kinase 2 (RSK2) as one of the key growth circuits in multiple myeloma cells. Abnormalities in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene are present in around 15 percent of multiple myeloma tumors, and the overproduction of FGFR3 activates RSK2.

Chen says he plans to study RSK2's role in driving out-of-control growth and to test inhibitors of RSK2 for their ability to block multiple myeloma. The award is $180,000 per year for four years. 

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The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service. Its components include schools of medicine, nursing, and public health; Yerkes National Primate Research Center; the Emory Winship Cancer Institute; and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has a $2.3 billion budget, 17,000 employees, 2,300 full-time and 1,900 affiliated faculty, 4,300 students and trainees, and a $4.9 billion economic impact on metro Atlanta.

Learn more about Emory’s health sciences:
Blog: http://emoryhealthblog.com
Twitter: @emoryhealthsci
Web: http://emoryhealthsciences.org

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