Children and adolescents with a difficult-to-treat form of blood cancer – T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) – should be treated more effectively in the future: An international study is investigating whether an additional drug can make the leukemia cells more sensitive to chemotherapy and thus enhance their effect.

The international study consortium ALL-BFM (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster), coordinated from Kiel, comprises over 130 study centers in ten countries and has been considered a global leader in clinical research to improve therapy for ALL for many years. The central goal is to provide treatment that is adapted to the individual subtype and the respective prognosis: While those affected with a very good chance of recovery should benefit from a reduction in chemotherapy (we reported on this last year), the new study takes a different approach. For children and adolescents with a high risk of relapse, the effectiveness of the therapy is not to be improved by further increasing the chemotherapy dose, but by a targeted increase in the sensitivity of the leukemia cells. It is precisely this mechanism that the new study addresses.

An extensive international research program is planned to accompany the clinical trial, coordinated by Dr. Lennart Lenk, head of the ALL translational research group in pediatric oncology. “The accompanying international research is a central component of this project,” emphasizes Dr. Lenk. “Thanks to the close cooperation of numerous national and international research groups, we can comprehensively investigate the response of T-ALL to venetoclax and develop new therapeutic approaches based on this.”

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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