Researchers are developing a therapeutic approach for incurable leukemia
Created: 2022-12-15, 4:19 p.m
By: Jana Ballweber
Until now, anyone suffering from an aggressive form of leukemia had little hope of recovery.
© Rupert Oberhäuser/Imago Images
A blood cancer diagnosis is often considered an imminent death sentence for patients with particularly aggressive variants.
But a new study gives hope.
Munich – A blood cancer diagnosis is a deep turning point in the lives of those affected.
Some variants of the disease can be treated quite well nowadays, but if the diagnosis is multiple myeloma, the average survival time of the sick people drops to around five years, writes a research team from the Technical University of Munich in a press release on a current cancer study.
multiple myeloma | |
|---|---|
Mark | Disease of the plasma cells |
New cases per year in Germany | around 7000 |
Life expectancy | not curable, life expectancy about five years |
Because there is no cure for multiple myeloma.
In this variant of leukemia, the plasma cells in the blood go haywire.
In a healthy body, these cells help fight infection.
They can form antibodies that recognize and attack pathogens.
But when patients have multiple myeloma, the healthy plasma cells are crowded out by the diseased ones.
With fatal consequences.
This is reported by fr.de.
Cancer study: Researchers want to stop leukemia before it develops
Because in addition to the weaker immune response to actually harmless infections, the disease can then also develop into an open cancer, write the Munich researchers.
Anyone who is only ill at the preliminary stage often does not notice it at all and feels in the best of health.
But every year, the probability that patients will develop cancer increases by one percent.
And it is very difficult to treat and has not yet been completely healed.
In their study, the research team at the Technical University of Munich examined how plasma cells degenerate.
The aim of the researchers, who published their results in
The EMBO Journal
, was to prevent the transition from precursor to cancer.
Florian Bassermann, professor at the Technical University of Munich and doctor at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar in Munich, said in the press release that this process can only be used to develop drugs once you have understood this process in detail.
Cancer researchers are looking for a drug to treat an aggressive variant of leukemia
The search for a drug should now be the next step for the research team.
They have found an enzyme that is responsible for breaking down proteins that are associated with cancer.
If you can specifically switch off this enzyme with a drug, it could stop the cancer before it even develops.
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Around 7,000 people in Germany develop multiple myeloma every year, slightly more men than women, writes Bassermann's research team.
It is the second most common blood cancer.
Signs of leukemia include bone pain, fatigue, and drowsiness, as well as frequent infections, weight loss, weakness, and kidney problems.
There has been a lot going on in the field of cancer research in recent years.
More and more innovative treatment methods give hope for better therapy options and a longer life.
In September 2022, a new type of blood test gave hope for better early detection of cancer.
(Jana Ballweber)
Editor's note
The information given in this article does not replace a visit to a doctor. Only experts can make the right diagnosis and initiate appropriate therapy. The intake of medication or dietary supplements should be discussed with a doctor beforehand.