The KWF has awarded a grant for the research project: 'predicting recurrence through molecular residual disease detection in FLT3-ITD AML patients treated with specific FLT3 inhibitors' by molecular biologist Peter Valk of the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is cancer of the blood and bone marrow in which there is a large increase in immature white blood cells, also known as (myel)blasts, in a short period of time. “Determining the prognosis for patients with AML has improved considerably in recent years,” says molecular biologist Peter Valk. 'The majority of AML patients respond well to the first chemotherapy treatments. Yet we see that the disease eventually comes back in many patients due to the presence of a small amount of residual disease.'
In this KWF project, Valk wants to determine very accurately and at molecular level how much residual disease is present in AML patients with a specific genetic abnormality: the FLT3 internal tandem duplication (ITD). He uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) for this. This is a technology that allows scientists to read and understand the genetic code of living organisms quickly and efficiently. “By knowing how much residual disease is still present in these AML patients, further treatment can be better guided,” says Valk.
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