Petter Höglund

Patients with leukemia often need transfusions with blood and platelets in order not to suffer from anemia or bleeding. Many leukemia patients are transfusion dependent already at diagnosis and even more are developing transfusion dependent as the disease progresses. Many patients also require transfusions to cope with curative treatments such as stem cell transplantation. Despite this, we know surprisingly little about what governs transfusion dependence and what factors are decisive for how individual patients respond to transfusion treatment. These issues are the focus of this project. In the first part of the project, we study stem cell mutations in leukemia patients and how they affect the frequency of transfusion with red blood cells. In this section, we are also investigating how these mutations affect the risk of developing alloantibodies to the transfused red blood cells. The second part examines how different blood donor and blood bag properties affect transfusion outcomes, and in the third part, the transfusion of platelets is studied and the question of the removal of HLA class I on the platelets makes the platelets survive better in patients with HLA antibodies. This is a highly translational project with great potential to increase understanding of what governs the transfusion pattern in leukemia patients. It aims to optimize the transfusion treatment and thus reduce the suffering of the patients. Another aim of the project is to develop new transfusion treatments for patients who do not respond to transfusions. If these are successful, it can in a very short term improve the situation for many patients who today cannot be treated optimally.

NK cells protect us from viral infections but also contribute to the defense against tumor emergence and tumor spread, especially in leukemia patients who have undergone stem cell transplantation or other cell therapy. We study the importance of MHC class I molecules and of the growth factor IL-15 for the development of NK cells in mice. This development process is important for the ability of NK cells to distinguish leukemia cells from normal cells. We also study NK cells and other immune cells in patients with leukemia and and patients who receive transfusion with bodily platelets to link molecular knowledge from mouse studies to treatment of people with cancer. The project aims to identify the molecular mechanisms that govern the education of NK cells in the body. The strength of the project is the genetically defined basic research models we developed over a number of years, but we also collaborate with clinics for parallel research on patients with leukemia. Such a translational approach we hope will give us clues to a deeper understanding of the biological relationships that exist between the immune system's development and its function in tumor diseases. The purpose of our research is to understand the basic relationships between how NK cells develop into the body and their ability to recognize and kill leukemia cells. The research is focused on elucidating molecular interactions both on the cell surface and within the cell. The goal is to ultimately try to utilize the knowledge to find new drugs that improve survival and quality of life in patients with leukemia and other tumor diseases.

NK cells protect us from viral infections but also contribute to the defense against tumor emergence and tumor spread, especially in leukemia patients who have undergone stem cell transplantation or other cell therapy. We study the importance of MHC class I molecules and of the growth factor IL-15 for the development of NK cells in mice. This development process is important for the ability of NK cells to distinguish leukemia cells from normal cells. We also study NK cells and other immune cells in patients with leukemia and and patients who receive transfusion with bodily platelets to link molecular knowledge from mouse studies to treatment of people with cancer. The project aims to identify the molecular mechanisms that govern the education of NK cells in the body. The strength of the project is the genetically defined basic research models we developed over a number of years, but we also collaborate with clinics for parallel research on patients with leukemia. Such a translational approach we hope will give us clues to a deeper understanding of the biological relationships that exist between the immune system's development and its function in tumor diseases. The purpose of our research is to understand the basic relationships between how NK cells develop into the body and their ability to recognize and kill leukemia cells. The research is focused on elucidating molecular interactions both on the cell surface and within the cell. The goal is to ultimately try to utilize the knowledge to find new drugs that improve survival and quality of life in patients with leukemia and other tumor diseases.

NK cells protect us from viral infections but also contribute to the defense against tumor emergence and tumor spread, especially in leukemia patients who have undergone stem cell transplantation or other cell therapy. We study the importance of MHC class I molecules and of the growth factor IL-15 for the development of NK cells in mice. This development process is important for the ability of NK cells to distinguish leukemia cells from normal cells. We also study NK cells and other immune cells in patients with leukemia and and patients who receive transfusion with bodily platelets to link molecular knowledge from mouse studies to treatment of people with cancer. The project aims to identify the molecular mechanisms that govern the education of NK cells in the body. The strength of the project is the genetically defined basic research models we developed over a number of years, but we also collaborate with clinics for parallel research on patients with leukemia. Such a translational approach we hope will give us clues to a deeper understanding of the biological relationships that exist between the immune system's development and its function in tumor diseases. The purpose of our research is to understand the basic relationships between how NK cells develop into the body and their ability to recognize and kill leukemia cells. The research is focused on elucidating molecular interactions both on the cell surface and within the cell. The goal is to ultimately try to utilize the knowledge to find new drugs that improve survival and quality of life in patients with leukemia and other tumor diseases.