# Identifying host factors that block engraftment and progression of transmissible cancer as a model of AML

> **NIH NIH R01** · PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2024 · $388,546

## Abstract

SUMMARY:
Identification of host genes and pathways that can block cancer cell engraftment and growth could lead to
revolutionary new cancer treatment strategies. In metastatic cancer, there are many steps in which cancer cells
interact with the host microenvironment: the release of cells from their original location, travel through the
circulation, engraftment into a distant location, and growth in the new environment. So-called liquid tumors
like acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are not often considered to be metastatic, but leukemic cells disseminate
throughout the body and can lead to solid metastasis-like tumors called myeloid sarcomas, interacting with
the host microenvironment in similar ways. In the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), and other bivalves, fatal
AML-like cancer lineages have evolved that metastasize repeatedly—not just from a primary to a secondary
site, but from one whole animal to another, over and over again throughout the population for decades or
longer. These fatal contagious cancers exert a strong selective pressure in nature to select for clams which can
block engraftment and growth of this lineage of cancer cells. We will use this unique bivalve transmissible
neoplasia (BTN) system as a model of AML to determine (1) which microenvironments expression patterns
correlate with metastatic growth, (2) what genes correlate with resistance to progression, and (3) how
different populations have evolved resistance to cancer. This study has the potential to provide an
unprecedented understanding of cancer microenvironment and reveal new and important interactions
between cancers and their hosts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10753541
- **Project number:** 5R01CA255712-03
- **Recipient organization:** PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Jeffrey Metzger
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $388,546
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10753541

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10753541, Identifying host factors that block engraftment and progression of transmissible cancer as a model of AML (5R01CA255712-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10753541. Licensed CC0.

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