Defining the Mechanism of Thrombosis in Patients with Multiple Myeloma


Damon Runyon - Mark Foundation Physician-Scientist (2024-Present)

Rebecca Zon, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Rebecca Zon, MD

Thalidomide derivatives are a mainstay of treatment in multiple myeloma, a cancer of white blood cells called plasma cells. However, around one in ten individuals treated with thalidomide derivatives for multiple myeloma will develop a blood clot, which can be life-threatening. It is critical to determine how to continue to use thalidomide derivatives to kill myeloma cells, while working to understand why these drugs increase the likelihood of clotting. Thalidomide derivatives work by degrading proteins important to myeloma cell growth; Dr. Zon hypothesizes that these drugs could similarly lead to the degradation of proteins that prevent blood clotting. She is comprehensively evaluating what factors promote blood clots patients with multiple myeloma, with the goal of developing more targeted medications to prevent blood clots and improve treatment outcomes in blood cancer patients.

Content courtesy of Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

published research

Zon RL, Sekar A, Clapham K, Oren O, Niroula A, Bick AG, Gibson CJ, Griffin G, Uddin MM, Neuberg D, Natarajan P, Ebert BL. JAK2-mutant clonal hematopoiesis is associated with venous thromboembolism. Blood. 2024.

BACK TO OUR PORTFOLIO