2013 - 2021

Identification of molecular targets in neoplastic stem cells (SC) and the SC niche in CML and other MPN.

The project part leader, Peter Valent is an expert in the field of MPN and the Speaker and Coordinator of this SFB. His group has long-lasting experience and great expertise in experimental and translational hematology. The speaker has developed several new concepts in the field of MPN in the past few years, developed several biomarkers, prognostic factors and scores, and established new treatment concepts. During the past 10 years, his group focused on SM/MCL and CML, and more recently also on eosinophil disorders. Another focus in his research are neoplastic/leukemic SC. The speaker coordinates a national CML platform, a European Competence Network on Mastocytosis, and an International Working Group on Eosinophil Disorders. He is the Scientific Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical University of Vienna.

The primary aim in his project in the current SFB was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic potential of new LSC markers and to validate novel LSC targets in Ph+ CML, JAK2- or CALR-mutated classical MPN, and other MPN. Other aims involved investigating the expression and function of drug targets in BM endothelial cells and osteoblastic cells, exploring the effects of targeted drugs on LSC and LSC-niche interactions, and the identification of drugs and drug combinations that can overcome multiple forms of drug resistance (molecular, niche-induced, immune-mediated) in LSC in CML and other MPN.