🍁 Other connections Belzutifan (and Canada)
Belzutifan research story U of T Canada, Apr.30/23 *with updated last paragraph in RED*
“The mechanism at play in von Hippel-Lindau syndrome … impacts how all cells sense and adapt to oxygen deprivation. ‘The worlds of hypoxia and VHL collided in that discovery…’”
-- Dr. Michael Ohh, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. U of T News, Nov.15/19. Our Canadian 'connection'!
“Professor Michael Ohh received his PhD from the University of British Columbia and was a… postdoctoral fellow in the…laboratory of William G. Kaelin Jr. at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School [in the 1990s]. Professor Ohh contributed to the pioneering work that defined the fundamental oxygen-sensing mechanism that governs metazoan cellular adaptation to changes in oxygen levels – a discovery that would lead to the recognition of his mentor W.G. Kaelin Jr. with the 2019 Nobel Prize …
Professor Michael Ohh is recipient of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Bernard and Francine Dorval Prize, Premier’s Research Excellence Award, and Canada Research Chair in Molecular Oncology.”
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Overall, “This is a great scientific story. It shows how studies of familial cancer and basic cell biology lead to effective new therapies that can directly benefit patients…” -1,2
The “Nobel” research included the hypoxia response which lead to Belzutifan: “The hypoxia response affects many aspects of physiology, including conditions such as anemia, cancer, stroke, infection and heart attack… The research is already leading to the development of new treatments…” -4
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1-NCI Support for Basic Science Paves Way for Kidney Cancer Drug Belzutifan. National Cancer Institute. January 25, 2022.
2 -Nobel Prize Award: Impact of Clinical Care? Ilene Sussman, December 13, 2019.
3 -Discovery of Molecular Switch for How Cells Use Oxygen Wins 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Scientific American, October 7, 2019.
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