PI3Kdelta

Bart Vanhaesebroeck (UCL Cancer Institute)

A highlight of our work to date is the discovery of PI3Kdelta, a member of the PI 3-kinase family that is highly expressed in white blood cells, as a drug target in various diseases. Our team has been involved in the characterization of PI3Kdelta ‘all the way’, from gene cloning through to the generation of the first mouse models and the development of PI3Kdelta inhibitors (by PIramed UK, acquired by Roche in 2008). Over the years, we have uncovered PI3Kdelta as a drug target in immunity, inflammation and haematological malignancies and, most recently, as a target for cancer immunotherapy. In 2014, a PI3Kdelta inhibitor (Zydelig from Gilead Sciences) was the first PI3K inhibitor to be approved, namely for the treatment of specific blood cancers.