MPN Research Foundation

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MPN Research Foundation

Patient-centric foundation that exists to fund research & improve outcomes for those living with MPNs Driving groundbreaking research. Improving lives.

Founded by patients for patients, MPN Research Foundation is a catalyst for research funding in pursuit of new treatments – and eventually a cure – for polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and myelofibrosis (MF) – blood cancers collectively known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). To date, we have funded more than $18 million in MPN research. Through a combination of MPN cancer research, advocacy and education, we bring together patients, researchers, and clinicians around the common goal of realizing new treatment options and ultimately, a cure for MPNs.

08/25/2025

Have you made your will – or updated it recently?

Including us in your will or estate plan is one of the most meaningful ways to support blood cancer research, and it costs nothing today. MPNs are progressive and deeply misunderstood. Your legacy gift can fund the breakthroughs of tomorrow.

Take the first step this August. Link to: Planning Toolkit | MPN Research Foundation - https://plannedgiving.mpnresearchfoundation.org/planning-toolkit

08/21/2025

Could popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs influence blood cancer risk?

GLP-1 receptor agonists—drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy ( Novo Nordisk Foundation ) —are widely prescribed for type 2 diabetes and weight loss. But a recent study by Dr. Abhay Singh and colleagues at Cleveland Clinic found something unexpected: in patients with diabetes, those on GLP-1 drugs had significantly lower rates of two rare blood cancers—myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs).

Why those two specifically? Singh’s research points to inflammation. MPNs and MDSs are driven by rogue blood cell clones that thrive in inflamed environments. GLP-1 drugs appear to reduce that inflammation—possibly enough to keep those harmful clones in check. While it’s too early to think of these drugs as cancer preventatives, the findings offer exciting clues about how inflammation could be targeted to reduce cancer risk in the future.

Read an interview with Dr. Singh here: https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/news/what-glp-1-drugs-reveal-about-mpns-inflammation-and-cancer-risk/

08/19/2025

❓What is a patient registry, and is it a research study?

A patient registry, like the MPN PROGRESSion Registry™ launching later this Fall, is a formal research study. It is not a treatment trial, but instead, an observational study — meaning information is collected about your experience living with a disease without changing your physical care or asking you to try new treatments.

🔍 The MPN PROGRESSion Registry will securely gather health data from people living with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) in the U.S. Through surveys and electronic medical records (with your permission), we will learn how to track how MPN diseases progress, how treatments work in real life, and what patients experience day to day.

🙋 By joining and sharing your MPN health journey over time, you’ll help us build a long-term resource to improve care and support future MPN research.

Join our community (https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/ ) to stay informed on the upcoming launch.

08/18/2025

As a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and an MPN patient himself, Tyler Parsons, PhD, is uniquely qualified to provide input and oversight for MPN Research Foundation’s forthcoming MPN PROGRESSion Registry™, launching later this Fall.

“The highest quality MPN research is driven by experimental questions arising from real-world, clinical observations. The MPN PROGRESSion Registry™ will offer researchers from around the world access to a robust repository of MPN progression data to ensure pre-clinical modeling of MPN disease remains patient-centric in both scope and design.”

Tyler lends his dual expertise to the Foundation as a member of the MPN PROGRESSion Registry Steering Committee and serves as chair of the Patient Engagement Advisory Council (PEAC) — helping ensure the patient voice will be front and center in any Registry-enabled research.

“As both an MPN patient and a scientific researcher, I view this registry as an invaluable tool which will be utilized to direct the next generation of MPN-related scientific discovery.”

Join our community to stay informed on the launch. https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

08/15/2025

Your immune system is full of defenders — T cells that act like security guards, constantly patrolling your body for threats like viruses and cancer cells. But in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), those guards can become worn out, called T-cell exhaustion. When this happens, guards can miss important warning signs.

One of those warning signs is a mutated protein called calreticulin, CALR. In some patients with MPNs, the mutant CALR protein appears on the outside of diseased stem cells, almost like a badge that says, “something’s wrong.” But even with that signal, the immune system doesn’t always react. It could be too tired, not recognize the target, or somehow the cancer has figured out how to stay hidden.

That’s where immunotherapy comes in. Scientists are trying to retrain and rearm the immune system using different approaches:

💉 Peptide vaccines that stimulate immune responses
🧬 CAR T-cell therapies aimed at mutant-CALR recognition
🧪 Bispecific antibodies that link immune cells directly to CALR-expressing cancer cells

Each of these strategies is a new way to step up the body’s defenses and help them do what they were made to do: fight back.

08/14/2025

In myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), certain immune cells called neutrophils are behaving in unexpected ways.

"This is a really fascinating finding that the neutrophils have this unexpected role in myeloproliferative neoplasms maybe in other inflammatory conditions that are associated also with fibrosis of the tissue." — Dr. Simón Méndez-Ferrer, PhD

Dr. Méndez-Ferrer, funded in part by the MPN Research Foundation’s 2024 MPN Challenge award, led the study recently featured on the cover of Blood. His team uncovered a surprising partnership between two bone marrow cell types: neutrophils and megakaryocytes.

Normally, neutrophils are short-lived defenders, regularly cleared out of circulation to prevent inflammation. But in JAK2V617F-mutated MPNs, these neutrophils resist clearance, overexpress a signal called CD24, and end up being “eaten” by megakaryocytes.

"This abnormal interaction causes inflammation of the megakaryocyte and contributes to the fibrotic process," explains Dr. Méndez-Ferrer.

The major discovery in this new article: blocking the “don’t eat me” CD24 signal in preclinical models restored normal neutrophil clearance, improved blood counts, and prevented the development of myelofibrosis.

Congratulations to every author on this groundbreaking paper. We’re proud to support groundbreaking research from investigators like Dr. Méndez-Ferrer, whose work continues to push the boundaries of MPN science.

08/13/2025

Last Chance to Register!
MPN Pathways: Empowered Voices in Research
Session 5 – Patient & Caregiver Voices in Research

🗓 Thursday, August 14 | 5–6 PM CST

Explore how patients and caregivers are partnering with researchers to influence meaningful change.

Featuring cancer research advocate Patty Spears, BS, FASCO.

🔗 Register now: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RqcXr7lLQZ-MVvpRae4SeA

08/12/2025

Wondering where to start with clinical trials?

🔎 Visit the MPNRF Clinical Trials page to browse open studies and better understand how trials fit into MPN care.

🤝 Want personal help? Talk to a nurse from ’s Clinical Trial Support Center — it’s free, pressure-free, and built around you.

➡️ Start exploring: https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/mpn-clinical-trials/

08/08/2025

Myelofibrosis is a rare type of blood cancer that causes scarring in the bone marrow, making it harder for the body to make healthy blood cells. For some patients, a bone marrow transplant (also called a stem cell transplant) is the only chance for a cure. But there’s no way to know who will benefit from the risky procedure.

A new study by Dr. Juan Carlos Hernández-Boluda and colleagues produced a tool that could help doctors around the world make better decisions about transplant candidates. Through a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning, the team created a model that looks at factors like age, blood counts, and overall health to more accurately predict transplant outcomes.

Dr. Simón Méndez-Ferrer, a leading MPN researcher and 2024 MPN Challenge™ recipient, called the study an important step forward:

“It is therefore crucial to identify which high-risk patients benefit the most from transplant and which would do better with alternative therapies.”

Doctors and patients can now try the tool themselves using a free online calculator:
🔗 https://gemfin.click/ebmt

This new model could help patients, and their care teams make more informed, personalized treatment decisions and possibly save lives.

08/07/2025

August is Make a Will Month — the perfect time to protect what matters most and plan for the future.

This year, consider including MPN Research Foundation in your will, trust, or estate plan. Your legacy can fund research for rare blood cancers like essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV), and myelofibrosis (MF) — diseases that often go overlooked and underfunded.

A planned gift is a powerful way to:
✅ Support patient-driven research
✅ Fuel future discoveries and better treatments
✅ Leave a lasting legacy without impacting your finances today

With over $20 million already invested in MPN research, your gift ensures the work continues — even when other funding sources fall short.

Link to: Planning Toolkit https://plannedgiving.mpnresearchfoundation.org/planning-toolkit

08/05/2025

The August edition of “Under the Microscope’” hit your inboxes at 5PM CT today!

This digest includes:
👉 Dr. Daniel Royston and how he is teaching computers how to see what pathologists might miss
👉 Patient profile: Ned Weinshenker
👉 Dr. Abhay Singh of the Cleveland Clinic and his study on how the inflammatory effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists might matter for diseases like myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs)

Join our community today to receive these stories and so much more with this link: https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

08/04/2025

🎲 In the game of cellular health, not everyone starts on the same square. Some players may begin the game a few steps closer to the edge of disease. Your starting square on the board might be inherited.

🧬 This idea is central to a powerful discovery supported by the MPN Research Foundation’s 2020 MPN Progression Pilot Grant. In a study led by Dr. Vijay G. Sankaran and published in Cell, Zhao et al. found that those with a rare inherited mutation in a gene called CTR9 were around 10 times more likely to develop diseases like MPNs.

“It is clear that there is a significant heritable component to these cancers that remains incompletely defined and poorly understood mechanistically,” reported the authors. Thanks to their hard work, CTR9 is no longer a hidden component of MPNs.

🔍 MPN Research Foundation funded this project with a bold goal: to uncover the root causes and risk factors that drive MPN progression from pre-diagnosis toward more advanced and harder-to-treat disease states. The impact of this research reflects that ambition.

We’re proud that our early investment helped spark findings that continue to reshape how we think about MPN disease progression — not just as something that happens after diagnosis, but as a process that, for some, may have begun long before.

🧾 The MPN PROGRESSion Registry™, launching later this Fall, is a patient-driven effort to uncover what causes MPNs to change — and how we can intervene sooner. By sharing your health journey, you can help build a powerful resource to shape the future of MPN research and care. Learn more and stay connected! https://mpnresearchfoundation.org/

Address

PO Box 10743
Chicago, IL
60610

Website

http://www.mpnresearchfoundation.org/

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