Uncovering the biology of Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia to identify prognostic and treatment opportunities
Background
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a type of blood cancer with low survival rates of 25%. CMML patients typically receive a type of chemotherapy for 6 months, called hypomethylating agents, which helps to reduce the number of abnormal blood cells. However, this therapy is only effective in approximately 50% of patients and unfortunately, many people who originally respond to this treatment later relapse, and the cancer returns.
About the project
Professor Pimanda and his team have discovered that there are key differences in the cancer cells between patients who respond to chemotherapy compared to those who don’t. This project builds on their previous research and aims to develop a test that can predict whether the chemotherapy is likely to be effective for each CMML patient.
Impact
As chemotherapy can have significant negative side effects, developing a test that can predict the efficacy of treatment would enable clinicians and patients to make more informed choices about the best treatment option. If a patient is unlikely to respond to chemotherapy, they may choose alternative therapies being assessed in clinical trials. This project also aims to identify new targets for therapies to treat CMML in the future.