Joel Yisraeli, PhD

About the Investigator:

Prof. Joel Yisraeli was born in Milwaukee, WI. After finishing his BA at Princeton University, he emigrated to Israel and completed his doctorate at the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, under the mentorship of Prof. Howard Cedar. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, he returned to the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, where he runs a research lab in the Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research.

About the Research:

IGF2BP1 is a protein that binds to RNA and is usually active before birth, but it becomes active again in many types of cancer. In patients with lung adenocarcinoma, those with high levels of IGF2BP1 and a mutated Kras gene have a much lower survival rate (15 months) compared to those without high levels of IGF2BP1 (88 months). In mice, when IGF2BP1 is active along with the mutant Kras gene, it helps tumors grow in the lungs and spread to other parts of the body. However, blocking IGF2BP1 can prevent these tumors from spreading.

The Yisraeli lab screened 27,000 small molecules to find ones that specifically stop IGF2BP1 from binding to Kras RNA. They discovered and refined a molecule called “AVJ16,” which prevents IGF2BP1 from attaching to Kras and other cancer-promoting RNAs. When cancer cells are treated with AVJ16 in the lab, they lose their cancerous traits. In mice, this drug stops cancer cells from growing when injected under the skin.

Prof. Yisraeli and his team will now test AVJ16 in a genetic mouse model of lung cancer, explore its potential as an additional therapy, and develop a small molecule that targets and degrades IGF2BP1. Their ultimate goal is to create a set of powerful new therapies that specifically inhibit IGF2BP1 and prevent cancer