 Curis, Inc. NASDAQ: CRIS, a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 1 trial evaluating CA-4948, a novel, small molecule IRAK4 kinase inhibitor, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia AML or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes MDS with spliceosome mutations, such as SF3B1 and U2AF1, that drive expression of the long isoform of IRAK4 IRAK4-L. IRAK4 plays an essential role in the toll-like receptor TLR and interleukin-1 receptor IL-1R signaling pathways, and these pathways are frequently dysregulated in patients with AML and MDS. 