A £3.1 MILLION research grant could herald new hope for people with a rare form of blood cancer, it is claimed.
Scientists at Glasgow University’s Institute of Cancer Sciences will carry out laboratory experiments alongside a clinical trial to monitor how cancer cells in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) respond to a series of new experimental drugs.
The rare condition affects the blood and bone marrow, with around 50 new cases diagnosed in Scotland every year.
The disease also claims the lives of around 20 people annually.
Taking a “precision medicine” approach, the team hopes data from its experiments will help determine which drug will be most effective for individual patients.
CML occurs when blood stem cells produce abnormal white blood cells that grow out of control.
It can be treated with drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), but while these tackle the cancerous white blood cells they do not kill the CML stem cells.
In some patients the cancer can eventually become resistant to forms of treatment.
According to the university, the study is the first in the UK to receive funding from the Cancer Research UK Experimental Medicine Award programme, which supports highly ambitious laboratory research conducted in association with a clinical trial.
Professor Mhairi Copland, director of the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre and clinical lead for the study, said: “Around a quarter of CML patients develop resistance to the standard treatment.
“For some patients we can try a different drug or sometimes a bone marrow transplant, however, CML tends to be a disease of older people for whom a bone marrow transplant isn’t an option.
“Our hope is that this study will help more patients with difficult-to-treat CML to survive, and give them more time with their families with better quality of life.”
The study will continue the work of cancer specialist and founding director of Glasgow’s Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre, Professor Tessa Holyoake, who died from breast cancer in August 2017.
STV reporter Laura Boyd, who was diagnosed with CML eight years ago, welcomed news of the study.
The entertainment specialist said she feared the worst when doctors revealed that she had CML, stating that her first thought upon diagnosis in September 2009 was “am I going to die?”.
However, her cancer has since been kept under control with drugs.
The Glasgow woman said: “This is the most wonderful news.
“I was diagnosed with CML in 2009 and thanks to the pioneering work carried out by the likes of Professor Mhairi Copland and Professor Tessa Holyoake, I have largely kept well and led a normal life.
“The future, however, is uncertain and that’s why it comes as such a relief to know that this funding will enable scientists to carry forward the groundbreaking work they have already done to try and find new treatments and drugs.”
She went on: “It gives hope and it means the world to me to know that the legacy Professor Holyoake left when she sadly passed away last year, will be carried on.
“She was my doctor and the most remarkable woman I have ever met.”
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