Help Could Be At Hand For Leukemia Relapse

Japanese Researchers have held out fresh hope for fighting leukemia according to this Reuters report.

Reportedly the researchers have identified some 25 spots on leukemia cells which could come in useful in the process to develop new drugs against this cancer.  These spots are different stretches of DNA that were especially active in the leukemia cells which have the potential to pave the way for new drugs.

If these molecules can be targeted, it may become possible to eliminate the stem cells of leukemia that are resistant to anti cancer drugs.

“Various anti-cancer drugs help many leukemia patients enter remission. But the most serious problem in AML (acute myeloid leukemia) is that many undergo relapse and eventually die.

Now we have identified leukemia stem cells that are responsible for relapse … The very important thing for us is how to overcome relapse in AML patients,” said lead researcher Fumihiko Ishikawa at the RIKEN Research Center for Allergy & Immunology in Yokohama, Japan.