Towards a low-toxicity treatment for childhood leukaemia

Newly published research carried out using synthetic human bone marrow cells is paving the way for the development of safer and kinder treatments for children with leukaemia — the most common cancer in children under 15.

Research progress over the last few decades has dramatically improved survival rates for childhood leukaemia, which are now over 80%. However, treatment resistance and treatment toxicity remain major clinical challenges that urgently need resolving to further reduce lives lost from leukaemia and to prevent life-altering side effects of drugs used in cancer treatment.

A new study conducted by experts at Newcastle University, Northumbria University, the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology and the University of Glasgow has now revealed an innovative way of mediating these challenges, which could in years to come lead to anticancer treatments that mitigate side effects but show improved efficacy. By using a low-toxicity drug which has not previously been deployed for leukaemia and combining it with dexamethasone — a drug which is routinely given to cancer patients — scientists found that the treatment was more effective in killing leukaemia cells and the combination did not cause any added toxicity.

To test this method of treatment, the team developed an artificial bone marrow using human stem cells to study the interaction of leukaemia cells with its surrounding, known as the ‘cancer niche’. Crucially, investigating cancer biology and consequently treatments using this novel human relevant and sustainable approach is helping to replace the use of animals in cancer research. Findings from the study have been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

“We developed a new approach methodology (NAM) or non-animal approach to replace and reduce the use of animals in cancer research,” said team leader Dr Deepali Pal, who started the study at Newcastle University and is now at Northumbria University. “We show that this NAM made of synthetic human bone marrow cells enables us to study patient-derived leukaemia cells in a clinically relevant manner.

“We have also studied how the leukaemia cells interact with its surrounding bone marrow cells and consequently detect a potential new low-toxicity treatment for leukaemia. Our aim is to continue developing such human relevant sustainable techniques that limit the use of animals in medical research to find safer and kinder anticancer treatments.”

Image credit: iStock.com/HRAUN

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