Finding new and better ways to treat leukaemia in babies
Childhood leukaemias are often caused by an alteration of a specific gene. As this type of leukaemia is difficult to treat and often comes back, Dr Tom Milne's research aims to help develop new ways to treatment leukaemia in babies.
The challenge
Childhood leukaemia is rare but dangerous. Sadly, only half of the children who develop leukaemia before their first birthday can be successfully treated. Researchers have found leukaemia in babies is usually linked to alterations of a specific gene called ‘MLL’. This type of leukaemia is hard to treat, and these babies often see their leukaemia come back but we currently don’t understand why this happens.
The project
Dr Milne and his team are conducting research to develop new treatments for leukaemia in babies. They have recently developed a theory of how the common alteration they see in MLL causes leukaemia. Dr Milne is determined to find out what makes this disease hard to treat and sometimes return after treatment, so that new treatments can be developed that stop this from happening.
The future
This research will help us to understand more about how to treat leukaemia in babies, resulting in more effective treatments that will help us get to the day where no babies’ lives are lost to leukaemia.