Leukemias associated with nucleoporin gene rearrangements tend to be refractory to treatment.
My lab seeks to understand the function of nucleoporins in nucleocytoplasmic transport and their role in the pathogenesis of acute leukemia. My recent research has focused on elucidating the role of nucleoporins including Nup98 and Nup358 in the initiation and termination of nuclear import. All leukemia-associated nucleoporin fusion proteins include the nucleoporin FG repeats that bind to soluble transport factors, and thus may interfere with the nucleocytoplasmic transport of transcription factors needed for normal myeloid differentiation. In order to understand the role of nucleoporin abnormalities in leukemia, we aim to understand the function of nucleoporins in nuclear transport and the normal nucleocytoplasmic transport of the major transcriptional regulators of myeloid differentiation. This aberrant localization may have a role in leukemic transformation.