Question: Do you think you will ever find a successful cure for leukaemia?

Vicky Forster answered on 12 Nov 2013:

Hi Emily,

That’s a good question. What I have learned so far about leukaemia, is that there are many different types – and there will probably be a ‘best’ way to cure each type, rather than one way which will cure all of them. This is because different types of leukaemias affect different types of blood cell – for example there are two main types of leukaemia called myeloid and lymphoid. Lymphoid and myeloid cells perform different jobs for our immune system and also play a part in things like allergies.

In a particular type of myeloid leukaemia, called chronic myeloid leukaemia – we do have a very successful treatment, called imatinib. It targets only the cells that have the DNA mutation causing the leukaemia, meaning that there are few side effects for the patients taking the drug – different to other chemotherapy drugs which can have awful side-effects. However imatinib only really works in this type of leukaemia.

Childhood leukaemia also has a very good outcome – with over 90% of children being cured now with the drugs we have. However the treatment can be quite nasty – causing a lot of side effects, and children have to be treated for over two years to make sure that the leukaemia does not come back. So, we need to keep finding better treatments, which have less side effects and don’t attack healthy cells so much.

Also, in many types of adult leukaemia (other than CML), patients still do not survive – so my work is looking at how we can help these adults with leukaemia have a better chance at beating their disease.