Researchers at the NSU AutoNation Institute for Breast and Solid Tumor Cancer Research Center found that the rate of gene repair can be used to determine the probability of early recurrence in pediatric patients diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL]. The research team consisted of Omar Ibrahim, Homood As Sobeai, Stephen Grant, and Jean Latimer.
Jean Latimer, associate professor and researcher in the college of pharmacy, stated in a press release that “Our research found a correlation between high NER expression levels and early relapse of ALL among relapsing patients. Being able to identify patients with the highest risk of early recurrence who are not detectable using present clinical measures and then treating them with a more targeted therapy is crucial to overcoming the cancer.”
According to the research team’s paper, “nucleotide excision repair is a predictor of early relapse in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” the nucleotide excision repair “is a major pathway of mammalian DNA repair that is associated with drug resistance.”
The purpose of this study was to look at the role of nucleotide excision repair in relapsing acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common cancer in pediatric oncology patients.
The researchers came to the conclusion that “The NER gene expression of relapsing precursor-B-ALL children showed distinct results depending on the timing of relapse. This was first analyzed in one publicly available database and then confirmed in a second. Children who relapsed early ( less than 36 months) have significantly higher NER gene expression than those who relapsed later (greater than 36 months). This is clinically relevant, as precursor-B-ALL children with higher NER scores at diagnosis are over two times more likely to undergo such early relapse.”
According to Latimer, “Childhood leukemia, ALL in particular, used to [have a] much higher mortality then it is now, and in the last 30 years the mortality has dropped a huge amount, now it is 20 percent. But the trouble is in that 20 percent because we are really talking about that 20 percent of kids that are going to recur, it is very hard to defeat [this] cancer. So this study is about those kids that are going to recur, who are not going to be cured in the first round of chemotherapy.”
In their previous research, they found that as cancers progress DNA repair occurs at a higher rate. The researcher team is now using this genetic marker as a way of predicting relapse. This research will allow for more accurate predictions about the probability of relapse in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, that will be useful in determining the most appropriate course of treatment for that patient.
