Eighty percent of FA patients survive beyond age 20, carry a high risk for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oropharyngeal and anogenital regions connected with high morbidity and mortality. In addition to intrinsic genetic instability, HSCT and a number of other factors contribute to the…
Fanconi anemia (FA) patients are at exceptionally high risk of developing epithelial cancers. We aim to identify features of these cancers that provide new insight into their origins, and better ways to treat these cancers in the context of FA patients. As part of this Resource we will develop and…
As a monogenic blood disorder with potential survival disadvantage, Fanconi anemia has long been considered an attractive target for conventional gene therapy but success has been elusive. Consequently, there has been increasing interest in developing techniques to catalyze correction of the…
My lab has developed a rapid and efficacious Cas9-based approach to introduce programmed sequence changes to human cells with ease. This work takes advantage of our discovery that Cas9 is extremely long-lived on its target DNA, yet releases a flap of single stranded DNA after cleavage. By using…
Current therapy for FA is limited to allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), a process associated with significant morbidity and mortality, particularly when an ideally matched donor is not readily available. Therefore, novel therapies that improve or replace SCT are needed. Progress in FA…
By virtue of their inability to repair a specific form of DNA damage, persons with Fanconi Anemia (FA) are appreciably more susceptible to development of certain cancers. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which arises from the lining cells of the mouth, occurs at >500 fold higher incidence in…
The objective of this proposal is to conduct a pilot study of metformin to treat FA. This pilot study will explore whether Metformin is safe and efficacious in improving hematopoiesis in patients with Fanconi Anemia. We will focus on pediatric and young adult patients with FA to determine safety,…
Fanconi anemia (FA) patients suffer from progressive bone marrow failure due to the defective hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in their bone marrow. The mechanisms of why the HSCs in FA patients are defective remain elusive. Recent studies suggest that DNA damage induced by physiological stress or…
The cause of injury and loss of blood-forming stem cells (Hematopoietic Stem Cells, HSC) in Fanconi anemia is due to abnormal repair of a specific type of DNA damage in which two DNA strands get permanently knotted to each other. This type of injury probably occurs frequently but is normally…
As a monogenic blood disorder with potential survival disadvantage, Fanconi anemia has long been considered an attractive target for conventional gene therapy but success has been elusive. Consequently, there has been increasing interest in developing techniques to catalyze correction of the…
This is a training grant for a medical geneticist from Mexico City, who will develop a registry and subsequently a cohort of patients with FA who reside in Mexico. The project addresses one of the research priorities of the FARF:
Fanconi anemia increases the risk of cancer as individuals' age. This is likely due to defects in the Fanconi DNA repair pathway that lead to the formation of rare cancer-causing mutations. Fanconi anemia individuals are defective in both copies of a Fanconi gene (one from mom and one from dad) and…