Hematopoietic stem cell research over the past century has shown that leukemia may be driven by an invisible hand of inflammation. The bone marrow and inflammation, then, may hold the keys to preventing blood cancers, according to John E. Dick’s plenary session at the 2026 Korean Society of Hematology International Conference, held March 26, 2026.

At the World Vaccine Congress this week, Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics LLC presented the preclinical characterization of LHNVD-501, a half-life-extended, humanized IgG monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting peptidoglycan (PGN). PGN is a conserved structural component shared across bacterial species and an upstream driver of sepsis, as well as metabolic disease, autoimmune disorders and neurodegeneration.

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) research over the past century has shown that leukemia may be driven by an invisible hand of inflammation. The bone marrow and inflammation, then, may hold the keys to preventing blood cancers, according to John E. Dick’s plenary session at the 2026 Korean Society of Hematology International Conference (ICKSH 2026), held March 26, 2026. Work in Dick’s lab has found acute myeloid leukemia (AML) HSCs that harbor preleukemic mutations long before any disease diagnosis. These insights have enabled predictive models that could identify individuals at elevated AML risk years before the onset of outright disease, opening the door to new prevention strategies.