 |  |  | | | LOCAL RESEARCH MAKES WORLDWIDE IMPACT | | | | |
| |  Dr A V Moorman
Release Date: 04th October 2005
A SOUTHAMPTON scientist, who has been studying genetic defects that arise in the most common form of childhood leukaemia, will reveal the results of the six-year study at today’s NCRI Cancer Conference in Birmingham.
Dr Anthony Moorman, a Leukaemia Research-funded senior researcher at the University of Southampton, has being studying three important genetic defects in the leukaemic cells of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). ALL is the most common form of childhood leukaemia and is single largest killer-cancer, affecting around 450 children in the UK.
“By using a comprehensive screening method to look at these three important genetic defects, we were able to better understand how they affected the prognosis of the child,” says Dr Moorman.
The study, which formed part of the ALL97 clinical trial, was funded by Leukaemia Research, the UK’s leading blood cancer charity. Using FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation) the team at the University were able to provide doctors with essential information for each individual child.
“Thanks to funding from Leukaemia Research, we have been able to carry out this research, which is having a major worldwide impact on the treatment of children with leukaemia,” adds Dr Moorman. “It is helping doctors direct the choice of treatment by identifying children with a poorer prognosis who would benefit from aggressive treatment early on. But it is also allowing us to identify which children we should be able to cure with less gruelling treatment.”
The NCRI Conference is the biggest cancer conference ever to be held in the UK and aims to share knowledge, ideas and best practice in the field of cancer research, and to bring together the various cancer societies and groupings who have in the past held separate annual conferences.
“As well as sharing the findings with the rest of the research community, I think its very important to feed back information to the general public, and more specifically, to the people who raise vital money for Leukaemia Research, which allows us to continue our research. We want to be able to reassure fundraisers, patients and families that we are making steps forward that will hopefully significantly increase the effectiveness of treatments,” adds Dr Moorman.
For more information about the NCRI conference, visit www.ncri.org.uk
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