Ratner Receives $9.86 Million Grant To Study Cancers Caused by Retrovirus

Lee Ratner, MD, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Oncology at WashU Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $9.86 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate cancers caused by human retroviruses. This NIH Research Program Project Grant, which includes collaborators at The Ohio State University, supports a multidisciplinary effort aimed at solving a range of related problems focused on a central theme.

Led by Ratner, who treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, the projects are focused on developing ways to prevent and treat cancers caused by a virus called human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). When HTLV-1 infects the immune system’s T cells, they live longer than they should, letting genetic mutations build up that could lead the cells to become cancerous. This sometimes leads to a life-threatening blood cancer called adult T-cell leukemia or T-cell lymphoma.

With this new funding, Ratner and his colleagues will build on their studies of vaccines and how they could help prevent and treat HTLV-1 infections in an effort to stop the cancer from ever developing. With the goal of developing better therapies for patients with these cancers, the researchers are also investigating how infected T cells change their environment to ensure their own growth and survival. One example is Ratner’s work with Deborah Veis, MD, PhD, of WashU Medicine’s Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases, showing infected T cells produce small particles called extracellular vesicles that contribute to the destruction of bone tissue. Developing ways to counter such environmental changes could lead to new therapeutic strategies for patients.