Myeloid leukemia, a study reveals that it is possible to diagnose years before the start



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Predicting who will get sick of leukemia could be as soon as possible with a simple blood test: declare that it is a commission of scientists who is working to develop a blood test which may say years before the diagnosis that will become sick acute myeloid leukemia a very aggressive tumor of blood whose roots are written in DNA and against which available treatments are still few. Ongoing research has seen the collaboration of the scientists of Wellcome Sanger Institute of the University of Cambridge in Great Britain and European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL)

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease that develops from bone marrow and progresses rapidly affecting precursor cells present blood in the marrow, used to form white blood cells

red blood cells and platelets. People with leukemia are primarily anemic problems, the disease first attacks precursors of blood cells, then they have low platelet counts, an increase or a decrease in white blood cells , they are also at risk of bleeding problems and infections

The study also focused on the fact that the disease is as if it suddenly started, but its roots are already etched for years "" In the DNA of patients and so are recognizable before the disease debuts. The study has begun is one of the largest ever undertaken in the field and involved more than half a million participants

According to data from Italian Association of Cancer Registries (AIRTUM ) every year in Italy there are very little more than 2,000 new cases: 1,200 among men and 900 among women . The disease is more common in men than in women and adults with more than 60 years . It is rare before 45 years and in Italy represents 13% of leukemias in children aged 0 and 14

" Our study – says one of the authors George Vbadiliou of Cambridge – provides for the first time evidence that it is possible to identify people at risk of developing myeloid leukemia Acute years before the onset of the disease.We hope to develop reliable screening tests to identify people at risk and direct research to prevent or slow the progression of this disease.Our aspiration is that someday the prevention of this leukemia becomes an effective alternative to the treatment of the disease itself. "

The research compared blood samples of participants in Epic collected and stored for a long time in a biobank [19659] 010]. When the samples were taken, all the subjects involved were in good health. Over time, some people have contracted cancer and among them there have been diagnoses of acute myeloid leukemia. The scientists compared the blood of 124 people then became ill of this leukemia with the blood of 676 people remained healthy. Research has shown that already years before the onset of the disease in the blood of those who would then have leukemia, genetic changes are distinguished in specific points of the DNA. These pretumoral genetic modifications could become the basis of a blood test predictive of leukemia. The study was published by the journal Nature .

Nature Study: Prediction of Acute Risk of Myeloid Leukemia in Healthy Individuals

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