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Leukemia is a blood cell cancer that frequently affects children. Despite the advances in treatment options, children with certain subtypes of leukemia are resistant to current therapy. Novel therapy for childhood leukemia is urgently needed. Dr. Fang's team recently found a protein, whose name is GPR68. They found that the levels of GPR68 were increased in blood cells of leukemia patients. When they decreased GPR68 levels, leukemia cells died, suggesting that increased GPR68 helped leukemia cells survive. Interestingly, normal blood cells with reduced levels of GPR68 were normal, suggesting that only leukemia cells need GPR68. Dr. Fang's findings suggest that lowering GPR68 levels or limiting its function may help cure leukemia without injuring normal blood cells. As the recipient of the Emily Beazley's Kures for Kids Fund St. Baldrick's Research Grant, she will be working to understand the function of GPR68 in leukemia cells and normal blood cells, and test drugs that could cure leukemia by inhibiting GPR68 function.

This grant is funded by and named for Emily Beazley's Kures for Kids Fund, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund. At the age of 8, Emily was diagnosed with Stage III T-cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and battled through three relapses. Her family prayed for a miracle but discovered Emily herself was the miracle, inspiring a community to come together to show love and change lives. She had a dream of starting a foundation to fund research and named it “Kures for Kids”. Today, Emily's family and friends carry on her dream and her mission in her memory.