Discovery and application of peptides specific for Acute Myelogenous Leukemic cells

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) refers to a group of diseases with considerable diversity in molecular pathogenesis and clinical outcomes, in which hematopoietic progenitor cells disturb the normal mechanisms of cell growth, proliferation and differentiation. The management of patients with AML remains a major challenge, especially in elderly patients, where intensive therapy is associated with high toxicity, low remission rate and median survival of only seven months. To develop novel therapies against AML, we identify peptides that are specifically internalized by patients’ AML cells. These peptides will be used as specific targeting carriers for existing AML drugs. 5 different human AML cell lines and normal PBMCs were exposed in parallel to a 7mer cyclic peptide displaying phage library. Internalized phage was selected and DNA was selected and sequences of peptide inserts were analyzed by NGS and bioinformatic tools. Sequences specific to AML cell lines were selected and synthesized. Currently, we are testing the potential of this peptides to act as drug carriers for targeted destruction of AML cells.