Cancer researchers at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, and at the Medical Faculty of Kiel University have described approaches for improved therapy of adult blood cancer patients in a new research paper on the genetic causes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Children, but also adults of all ages, can fall ill with this form of leukemia. It originates from malignantly transformed precursor cells of certain white blood cells and causes a rapidly progressive reduction in bone marrow function and thus disturbed blood formation. If left untreated, it can lead to death within a short time. The most common form of this blood cancer is the so-called B-precursor ALL (BCP-ALL). Around 500 adults in Germany are newly diagnosed with this disease every year. While about 90 percent of patients survive BCP-ALL in childhood, this rate drops to only about 40 percent in adults.
Researchers describe previously unknown risk factors for leukemia in adulthood
Cancer researchers at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, and at the Medical Faculty of Kiel University have described approaches for improved therapy of adult blood cancer patients in a new research paper on the genetic causes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Children, but also adults of all ages, can fall ill with this form of leukemia. It originates from malignantly transformed precursor cells of certain white blood cells and causes a rapidly progressive reduction in bone marrow function and thus disturbed blood formation. If left untreated, it can lead to death within a short time. The most common form of this blood cancer is the so-called B-precursor ALL (BCP-ALL). Around 500 adults in Germany are newly diagnosed with this disease every year. While about 90 percent of patients survive BCP-ALL in childhood, this rate drops to only about 40 percent in adults.