Dr. Pierluigi Porcu Discusses CTCL Research

Pierluigi Porcu, MD, associate professor of internal medicine, Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC — James), discusses early research into the development of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL).

At the 2013 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, an abstract was presented by Porcu and his team about an animal model of CTCL. Porcu explains that CTCL is a malignant blood disorder that affects 15,000-20,000 patients in the United States. The disease manifests predominately in the skin with no known cause.

Porcu says the animal model that was presented at ASH is designed to discover the early steps of the development of the disease and will help researchers study new treatments.

Some of the results from the animal model have been reproduced in human patients, Porcu says. For example, the mice overexpress the cytokine interleukin-15, which causes an overproliferation of T cells. This has also been observed in human samples, providing a proof of concept that both the human model and the mouse model have parallel mechanisms of growth.