|  |  |  | | | | BOOST IN RESEARCH FUNDING FOR COMMON BONE CANCER | | | | |
| |  Myeloma is one of the most common types of bone cancer
Release Date: 24th January 2005
Leukaemia Research is committing £325,000 to two new research grants which could bring hope to over 3,300 people in the UK with myeloma, a form of bone cancer which affects plasma cells in the bone marrow.
In Cambridge, Dr Michael Chapman will be using micro array technology which has the ability to detect thousands of genes from a patient in one test.
“With this technology there is potential to identify better targets for drugs. By studying samples from patients, it can help pave the way for more individual and successful treatment,” adds Dr Chapman.
As part of his project, Dr Chapman will spend two years at the world-renowned Dana-Faber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA, collaborating with leading researchers on one of the most common forms bone cancer.
In Salisbury, Dr Fiona Ross is leading a research group who are analysing information gathered from a nationwide clinical trial for myeloma.
“Studying the changes seen in chromosomes, the structures carrying the genes, is beginning to help reveal the scientific basis of the cancer,” says Dr Ross. “The information we are collecting from this is proving useful in predicting how the disease in individual patients is going to behave.”
It is hoped that once researchers complete the Leukaemia Research UK Myeloma Forum Cytogenetic Database, they will gain a better insight into the behaviour of this disease, allowing further work to be done to help tailor treatment for each patient dependent on their prognosis.
“Myeloma is the most difficult cancer of the blood to treat,” says Dr David Grant, Scientific Director at Leukaemia Research, the UK’s leading blood cancer charity.
“Unravelling the complex genetic mistakes that are found in myeloma cells is the key to a better understanding of the disease and for devising new approaches to treatment. We are confident that these projects will uncover new clues on how myeloma develops and also provide new diagnostic tests for assessing the cancer in patients,” he adds.
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