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In this project, Dr Hoogeboom wants to know more about how CLL cells move around the body and start growing.

Dr Robbert Hoogeboom smiling sat working in the lab.

Dr Robbert Hoogeboom in the lab

Project information

Lead researcher

Dr Robbert Hoogeboom, King's College London

Research team
  • A team at King's College London
Related conditions
  • Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)
Research type
  • Non-clinical
Region
  • London
Grant awarded
  • Project Grant
Status
Completed
Funding award date
May 2022
Amount awarded

£249,000

Project completion date
April 2025

The challenge

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a type of blood cancer that currently cannot be cured. The disease can be controlled using treatments such as ibrutinib but even after being on this treatment for years, CLL cells still exist in the blood and can eventually stop responding to treatment.

The project

CLL cells are constantly travelling around our bodies in our blood. When they’re in our blood they’re not growing in numbers, but when they move into certain organs they can divide and grow rapidly, which makes the disease worse.

Dr Hoogeboom and his team want to understand what CLL cells do when they get into these organs and how CLL cells move into these organs in the first place, to see if they can stop this from happening.

The future

The hope is that by understanding more about what CLL cells look like when they are growing in numbers, researchers may be able to identify ways to target the cells which could pave the way to developing new treatment for CLL.

This area of research could provide more answers about cells that drive disease progression and may be resistant to treatment.

- - Patient Voice Grant Advisory Network Member, living with non-Hodgkin lymphoma

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