Studying the origins of childhood acute myeloid leukaemia to identify targets for kinder and more effective treatments

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive type of blood cancer and is the second most common type of childhood leukaemia. There are not many treatment options, and sometimes the cancer cells escape chemotherapy. This leads to the cancer coming back in over half of patients. Whilst there are new treatments that have been developed, these are mainly for adults with AML and may not work the same for children.

Currently, survival can be slightly improved by giving more chemotherapy – but this increases side effects and long-term health issues due to damage to healthy cells. This shows the need for targeted therapies that are more harmful to cancer cells than healthy cells. To develop these new treatments, we need to find ways to selectively target cancer cells. One way to kill cancer cells would be by attacking the proteins they need for growth and survival. However, researchers do not know enough about which proteins are essential for cancer cell survival in AML.

In this project, Dr Juliana Fabiani Miranda from the University of York will develop detailed information about all of the proteins and genetic molecules found in childhood AML cells. This will set the foundations for future research by providing data about these cancer cells, particularly those that escape chemotherapy. Dr Fabiani Miranda hopes that her work could lead to new treatments for chemotherapy-resistant AML cells.