Scientists from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Seattle Children's and the Children's Oncology Group (COG) have identified novel genetic variations that influence relapse risk in children with standard risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (SR B-ALL), the most common childhood cancer. The identification of genomic predictors of relapse in SR B-ALL provides a basis for improved diagnosis, precise tailoring of treatment intensity and potentially the development of novel treatment approaches.
The study was today in the . Standard risk ALL has an excellent prognosis, with remission rates over 90%. However, around 15% of patients who achieve remission later experience a relapse.
Previous studies examining to predict relapse risk have primarily focused on high-risk ALL subgroups. SR B-ALL represents a larger group of patients and accounts for approximately half of children with ALL that relapse. This study is one of the first to systematically examine genetic factors on a large scale that influence relapse risk in SR B-ALL.
"ALL, as the most common childhood cancer, is a great success story with over 90% of children cured. But there remains a population of children whose disease is not fully cured, and we've not completely understood why that's the case," said co-senior author, Charles Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD, St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center Deputy Director and Department of Pathology member.
"This study focused on that group of poorly understood cases, where.