Researchers identify renegade cells that portend relapse in children with leukemia
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a technique that allowed them to determine at diagnosis whether children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia would relapse following treatment.
The method, described in a paper publishing online March 5 in Nature Medicine, predicted relapse in the cohort they examined with 85 percent accuracy, a significant improvement from 66 percent accuracy achieved by the current risk stratification method used at diagnosis. The method examines cancer cells one at a time using mass cytometry, a technique developed by Garry Nolan, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and a senior author of the study. Using data on the cells' stage of development and signaling behavior, the scientists figured out how to identify a tiny subset of malignant cells that, if present, predisposed a patient to relapse.
Read more: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/sm-rir022718.php
The method, described in a paper publishing online March 5 in Nature Medicine, predicted relapse in the cohort they examined with 85 percent accuracy, a significant improvement from 66 percent accuracy achieved by the current risk stratification method used at diagnosis. The method examines cancer cells one at a time using mass cytometry, a technique developed by Garry Nolan, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and a senior author of the study. Using data on the cells' stage of development and signaling behavior, the scientists figured out how to identify a tiny subset of malignant cells that, if present, predisposed a patient to relapse.
Read more: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-03/sm-rir022718.php