Under the microscope, Zohar Sachs, MD, PhD, eyes a familiar and formidable foe: acute myeloid leukemia cells.

Acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, is a rare and deadly form of blood cancer—one that becomes even rarer and even deadlier if the disease has a mutation of the TP53 gene. In those cases, AML goes from hard to manage to almost impossible to treat. People whose disease does not have the TP53 mutation can be cured; those whose disease has the mutation usually do not survive for a year.

Sachs is on a mission to change that dire outlook.

With support from the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial, Sachs and her research team have illuminated how the TP53 genetic mutation leads to more severe cases of AML—and crucially, how doctors might be able to disrupt the disease’s progression.

“TP53 mutant AML is a vicious form of the disease that usually doesn’t respond to treatment,” says Sachs, an M Health Fairview hematologic oncologist and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “But we believe that we might finally have a better strategy to help these individuals.”

After studying AML cells in the lab, Sachs and her colleagues realized that a specific molecular pathway associated with the TP53 mutation essentially neutralized treatment and allowed the disease to progress unabated. They believe that if they can halt that pathway by adding a new drug, then the standard AML therapy might become far more effective.

The team plans to explore their hypothesis through a clinical trial led by Joseph Norton, DO, assistant professor at the Medical School. The trial is fueled by support from the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund and conducted in partnership with M Health Fairview and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. Sachs says additional funding will allow her team to expand the study and launch follow-up research to optimize this treatment.

“This is a really promising step forward for people who, at the moment, don’t have any effective treatment options,” Sachs says. “A more effective therapy means longer survival and more time to enjoy life.”