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New genes involved in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia play fundamental role in prognosis of the disease
February 09, 2009The inactivity or "silence" of certain genes plays a fundamental role in the prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as well as in response to treatment, according to the results of research involving a team made up of specialists from the University Hospital of Navarra and the Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) at the same University of Navarra, as well as the Reina Sofía Hospital in Córdoba, Andalusia.
In concrete, the work confirmed that the inactivation of 13 microRNAs (a type of gene) by an epigenetic mechanism (capable of modulating the functions of the genetic code), is associated with higher mortality amongst patients with ALL. In total, the study involved 353 patients - 179 children and 174 adults - with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia). The results open up new therapeutic options on demonstrating the possibility of using these microRNAs as new targets in the treatment of this cancer illness. The conclusions of the research were recently published in the scientific journal with the greatest international impact in its speciality, the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Involved in the research work was a team made up of specialists from the University Hospital of Navarra and the Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra. Specialists from the Reina Sofía Hospital in Córdoba and the Institute of Human Genetics at the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital, Kiel Campus in Germany also participated in the study and the publication of results.
It is notable that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most common oncological illness amongst children. It makes up 25% of all cancers amongst paediatric patients and approximately 75% of cases of leukemia in infancy, although current survival rates in developed countries stand at about 75% of diagnosed patients.
Subgroup with worst prognosis
With this research a set of 13 microRNAs was identified which showed up as epigenetically regulated in 65% of the patients studied with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, according to Doctor Prósper. Epigenetic regulation is the modulation of the genes expression that does not depend on changes in the sequence of the genetic code and the influence of which in cancer is increasingly being demonstrated. They are, thus, reversible changes in the DNA that manage to get the genes to be expressed or not (to be activated or silent) depending on external conditions.
In the subgroup of patients amongst which this set of genes appears as regulated, it was shown that, although these patients initially responded to treatment, they were the ones who with greater frequency subsequently suffered relapse, disimprove and present the worst prognosis and survival rates. These are the patients amongst whom the disease is much more resistant to treatment and amongst whom a silencing of the expression of the microRNAs is produced, according to the specialist.
Most efficacious pharmaceutical drugs
Given these result, Doctor Prósper concludes that epigenetic regulation plays a fundamental role in the development of this disease. Moreover, he points out, it would seem that the most recent pharmaceutical drugs, capable of producing epigenetic alterations, can be effective in 65% of patients who respond worst to conventional therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Elhuyar Fundazioa
It is notable that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most common oncological illness amongst children. It makes up 25% of all cancers amongst paediatric patients and approximately 75% of cases of leukemia in infancy, although current survival rates in developed countries stand at about 75% of diagnosed patients.
Subgroup with worst prognosis
With this research a set of 13 microRNAs was identified which showed up as epigenetically regulated in 65% of the patients studied with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, according to Doctor Prósper. Epigenetic regulation is the modulation of the genes expression that does not depend on changes in the sequence of the genetic code and the influence of which in cancer is increasingly being demonstrated. They are, thus, reversible changes in the DNA that manage to get the genes to be expressed or not (to be activated or silent) depending on external conditions.
In the subgroup of patients amongst which this set of genes appears as regulated, it was shown that, although these patients initially responded to treatment, they were the ones who with greater frequency subsequently suffered relapse, disimprove and present the worst prognosis and survival rates. These are the patients amongst whom the disease is much more resistant to treatment and amongst whom a silencing of the expression of the microRNAs is produced, according to the specialist.
Most efficacious pharmaceutical drugs
Given these result, Doctor Prósper concludes that epigenetic regulation plays a fundamental role in the development of this disease. Moreover, he points out, it would seem that the most recent pharmaceutical drugs, capable of producing epigenetic alterations, can be effective in 65% of patients who respond worst to conventional therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Elhuyar Fundazioa
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Current Events and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia News RSSNew analysis finds daycare attendance early in life cuts childhood leukemia risk by 30 percent
Children who attend day care or play groups have about a 30% lower risk of developing the most common type of childhood leukaemia than those who do not, according to a new analysis of studies investigating the link.
Stem cells give clues to understanding cancer and make breakthrough in childhood leukaemia
Scientists in Switzerland are uncovering new clues about how cancer cells grow - and how they can be killed - by studying stem cells, 'blank' cells that have the potential to develop into fully mature or 'differentiated' cells and other scientists in UK have made a breakthrough in understanding the cause of the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
New research provides hope for childhood cancer sufferers
Scientists investigating drug therapies for children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) have presented new data demonstrating for the very first time that a small molecule called ABT-737 can increase the effectiveness of standard therapies.
Researchers identify cells that make relapse inevitable in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
In "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about the good and evil sides of the same person; now scientists in Australia have discovered that in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) there are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde cells - "good" and "evil" clones of the same type of ALL cell.
Infections are a major cause of childhood cancer, study suggests
Results from a new study of childhood cancer statistics provide further evidence that common infections affecting mother and baby could play a key role in triggering certain types of the disease.
New test proves effective in more cancers
Avantogen Limited (ACU:ASX) today announced that cancer researchers at Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) and Avantogen Limited have achieved an important milestone towards more individually targeted and effective treatments for cancer patients.
A new treatment for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?
IL-7, a hormone-like protein involved in cell-cell interaction, has been associated with increased survival and expansion of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL). Now, in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, a team of scientists, not only confirms the essential role of this protein in the disease but also, for the first time, identifies the biochemical pathway affected by IL-7 in T-ALL cells, a discovery which could lead to the development of potential new treatments for the disease.
New test piloted for childhood leukaemia
A new screening test to be piloted in Bristol could help to revolutionise the way children with leukaemia are treated by enabling doctors to fine tune treatment to the needs of each individual patient. Experts from five centres - Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Sheffield - will pilot the test for the most common form of the childhood leukaemia - acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The team at the University of Bristol and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children is using special technology called RQ- PCR (real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction) to measure the residual cancer cells - known as minimum residual disease - that remain after a child`s treatment. All children treated for
Women cured of childhood leukaemia should be advised to have children while they are young
Vienna, Austria: Women who have survived having leukaemia as children should receive fertility counselling because their reproductive life may be shortened even though they have an apparently normal menstrual cycle after treatment, according to Danish researchers. Dr Elisabeth Larsen, a research assistant from the Fertility Clinic at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, has studied 26 long-term survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and found that they tended to have smaller ovaries with fewer follicles (the group of cells containing the female egg) available in each menstrual cycle. However, the good news was that their ovaries appeared to be functioning normally in all other
Genetic Testing For Cell-Proliferation Enzyme Could Improve Treatment Of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (p 1033)
Authors of a Canadian research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET describe how genetic testing for an enzyme involved in cancer-cell proliferation could identify patients at an increased risk of poor outcome from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The enzyme thymidylate synthase is associated with cell proliferation, and is therefore an important target for anticancer drugs, including the chemotherapeutic agent methotrexate. Maja Krajinovic from the University of Montreal, Canada, and colleagues investigated the possible association between a variant of the gene coding for thymidylate synthase(in which a specific triple repeat alteration is associated with increased expression of thymidy
More Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Current Events and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia News Articles
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Understanding Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia by CancerBACUP (Author) | |
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Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (Bailliere's Clinical Haematology) by Robert Peter Gale (Editor), Dieter Hoelzer (Editor) A guide to the diagnosis and detection of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, detailing genetic changes and associated morphological and cytochemical alterations. This work also considers the use of various therapies such as bone marrow transplantation, IL2 and gene therapy, and CNS directed therapy. | |
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Understanding Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia by CancerBACUP (British Association of Cancer United (Publisher) | |
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Biology of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Annual guest lecture / Leukaemia Research Fund) by M. F Greaves (Author) |
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