Less than six years after the identification of cancer-associated mutations in a family of enzymes known as IDH, KI researchers and collaborators are pioneering new imaging technologies and medicines that target these mutant metabolic pathways. At this evening networking event, KI member Matthew Vander Heiden, Eisen and Chang Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Biology at MIT, discussed how a compound made only by mutated IDH enzymes is being used as a biomarker to detect and monitor IDH-mutant cancers, while Katharine Yen, Director of Biology at Agios Pharmaceuticals, presented early clinical data illustrating the promise of treatments that specifically block these mutant enzymes. They were joined by Steven Keating, an MIT graduate student recently diagnosed and treated for an IDH-mutant glioma, who shared his experience with this disease. Together, they told a powerful story of how, on an accelerated timeline, discovery and innovation can fuel the delivery of personalized cancer medicine to the clinic.
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Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
500 Main Street, Building 76
Cambridge MA, 02139-4307
617-253-6403