In a new study published in Nature Communications, Boston Children’s Hospital researchers identified a new target responsible for scar formation in the bone marrow of patients with a type of blood cancer known as myelofibrosis. Combining traditional myelofibrosis therapy with drugs that block scar formation may be a more effective treatment for patients with the disease.

“The current gold standard treatment for myelofibrosis targets the symptoms but is not curative,” says Joseph Italiano Jr., Ph.D., principal investigator in the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s. “Based on our findings, we believe that if we can delay scarring, it may give people more time and improve lives.”