Yi-Fen Lu, B.S., Medical Technology, Taiwan National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan,
M.S., Immunology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Ph.D. Student in Immunology
E-mail: yi-fen.lu@tufts.edu

CML is a hematopoietic disorder characterized by the uncontrolled expansion of myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow and is caused by the BCR-ABL oncogene, the product of the Philadelphia chromosome. Imatinib is an Abl kinase inhibitor that is effective in treating CML patients. However because imatinib-treated patients usually remain positive for Bcr-Abl transcripts and relapse occurs if treatment is discontinued, the drug is not curative. Allo-stem cell transplant plus imatinib has been shown effective in patients and one part of my work seeks to understand the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. I am also studying graft versus host responses by using MHC-matched donor-recipient pairs with minor antigen-mismatches in the transplant model of CML.