Targeting cell pathway may prevent relapse of leukemia
Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 13:57
in Health & Medicine
About 40 percent of children and up to 70 percent of adults in remission from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) will have a relapse. In recent years, doctors have come to believe that this is due to leukemia stem cells, endlessly replicating cancer cells that generate the immature blood cells characteristic of leukemia and are resistant to typical cancer treatments. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have found a possible way to kill off these cells, and prevent them from initiating a relapse.