Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude) and the Children's Oncology Group (COG) today announced a significant paradigm shift in the understanding of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), an aggressive and high-risk form of cancer, to one frequently driven by genetic changes in non-coding portions of our DNA.
The collaborative study was published today in the journal . Many children, adolescents, and young adult patients with T-ALL traditionally respond well to . However, patients who relapse or have treatment-resistant disease often face a dire prognosis.
Given the aggressive nature and rapid progression of the disease, and limited understanding of the genetic basis of T-ALL, researchers saw an urgent need for new and effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment. "This paper is the first to transcend previous barriers and comprehensively profile the whole genome, uncovering critical insights in more than 1,300 children, adolescents and young adults with T-ALL," said David T. Teachey, MD, an attending physician, Director of Clinical Research at the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at CHOP and Chair of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia disease committee in the COG.
"These findings are a significant clinical advancement, as the goal in treating T-ALL is to prevent relapse, which requires identifying the patients most at risk. This data now makes it possible to risk stratify patients with T-cell l.