How do children respond to treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia?
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in which the white blood cells turn cancerous, is the most common cancer of childhood. In 1970, only 30 percent of children could be cured, but chemotherapy treatment has improved to the point where about 80 percent survive and live without disease in the long term. But some children have leukemia cells that resist the chemotherapy drugs. A group of American and European researchers is working on understanding what it is that stops some cells from responding to treatment, to find a way to predict on whom chemotherapy will work best. What the researchers wanted to know: What genes are involved in drug resistance, and does response to treatment depend on how those genes are expressed? What they did: The study included 271 children who’d been newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Memphis. Most children had the version of the disease that involves B cells. The first part of the study was carried out using bone marrow and
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in which the white blood cells turn cancerous, is the most common cancer of childhood. In 1970, only 30 percent of children could be cured, but chemotherapy treatment has improved to the point where about 80 percent survive and live without disease in the long term. But some children have leukemia cells that resist the chemotherapy drugs. A group of American and European researchers is working on understanding what it is that stops some cells from responding to treatment, to find a way to predict on whom chemotherapy will work best. What the researchers wanted to know: What genes are involved in drug resistance, and does response to treatment depend on how those genes are expressed? What they did: The study included 271 children who’d been newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Memphis. Most children had the version of the disease that involves B cells. The first part of the study was carried out using bone marrow and
