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In this research project, Dr Richard Dillon will look for markers in DNA that will tell clinicians if someone with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is likely respond to a drug called venetoclax.

A researcher looking up at the camera, wearing a blue lab coat sitting in a lab, surrounded by wires and scientific equipment.

Dr Richard Dillon

Project information

Lead researcher

Dr Richard Dillon, King's College London

Research team
  • A team at King's College London
Related conditions
  • Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)
Research type
  • Non-clinical
Region
  • London
Grant awarded
  • Project Grant
Status
Completed
Funding award date
September 2021
Amount awarded

£241,000

Project completion date
August 2024

The challenge

AML is an aggressive type of blood cancer with limited treatments options and a poor outlook. At the moment, chemotherapy is the only treatment that offers to hope of a cure, however this treatment can cause severe side effects. We urgently need to find new and kinder treatments for people with AML.

The project

VICTOR is a clinical trial taking place across the UK trying to understand whether we can spare people with AML from toxic chemotherapy and treat them with a drug called venetoclax instead. However, we don’t yet know which patients will respond to venetoclax and which patients require a more intense chemotherapy.

In this project, Dr Richard Dillon and his team will take samples from people who are taking part in the VICTOR trial, and will try their DNA to find markers that would indicate that their cancer would have a good or bad response to the drug venetoclax.

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The future

This project could help identify people with AML who could be treated and cured from their disease with venetoclax. This would mean they no longer require chemotherapy, sparing them from the associated side effects and improving their quality of life.

Help us beat blood cancer by funding a research project

  • £15 could help eight people newly diagnosed with blood cancer understand their condition.
  • £30 could help researchers study blood cancer cells to develop new treatments and improve early diagnosis.
  • £50 could help scientists identify genetic patterns in tumour samples to better understand how genes contribute to the development of blood cancer.
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