The great gesture of Lionel Messi with boys with leukemia

The Leo Messi Foundation and the Josep Carreras Foundation have entered into a collaboration agreement fight against leukemia it bears the slogan "No child with leukemia" which directs research on a very rare type of infantile leukemia with a poor prognosis that primarily affects children under one year of age.

The team that benefits from the collaboration between the basics of the Barcelona player and the tenor – who was suffering from leukemia – will be the group of Dr. Pablo Menéndez, of Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute – Campus Clínic (UB), which conducts research on this type of leukemia.

Since the Leo Messi Foundation has declared that one of its pillars since its implementation has been to join its efforts to promote scientific research to improve diseases prevalent in childrenHe will finance Mr. Menéndez's project for two years.

"The laboratory led by Pablo Menéndez is an international leader in understanding the etiology and pathogenesis of acute lymphoid leukemia in infants (infants under one year of age). , the group has developed many fundamental, preclinical and clinical contributions concerning it is part of several European consortia ", informs the foundation.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia type B is the most common childhood cancer. The prognosis for healing is generally greater than 85%. Despite this, there are subtypes of the disease with completely different expectations. This is the case of acute lymphoblastic pro B acute leukemia with a t (4; 11) translocation (MLL-AF4 +), a very rare type diagnosed especially in children under one year old and whose prognosis is usually fatal.

This type of leukemia, although its causes are unknown, is usually badociated with an extension of the disease to the nervous system. As a result, cure rates are very low and affect about six children each year in Spain.