Infant Leukemia
Principal investigator(s):
Sonia Cellot
Leukemia in infants is a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer that occurs in children less than 12 months old. Unlike leukemia in older children, the early onset of the disease arises during a critical window of a child’s growth and development. It is marked by a striking diversity of genetic changes, making it particularly challenging to treat. Yet, because it is so rare, research efforts in this sub-type have stagnated. As such, infants with leukemia continue to have low cure rates compared to those diagnosed with leukemia later in childhood.
Advances in genomic profiling have shown that childhood leukemia is far more varied than once believed. We now know that there are many hidden sub-types and that each of these sub-types can behave differently, respond differently to treatments, and carry its own risks. However, despite these powerful advances, most children are still treated with the same standard therapies, which often do not work well for the most aggressive forms and can cause serious long-term side effects for survivors.
To change this, the project is assembling a multi-disciplinary pan-Canadian task force dedicated to the study of leukemia arising in infancy. By working as a unified team of scientists, clinicians and Persons With Lived Experience, the project team hopes to accelerate research discoveries and improve current patient care to offer new hope to current and future families facing this devastating disease.
This project specifically aims to:
- Standardize the collection of clinically annotated samples from infants diagnosed with leukemia across the patient journey
- Ensure equitable access to baseline genomic and proteomic profiling of samples from infants with leukemia at diagnosis
- Perform drug sensitivity profiling at diagnosis and relapse
- Map the heterogeneity of leukemia in infants to identify cells of origin and drug-resistant sub-populations
- Conduct integrated proteomic profiling of samples to identify novel therapeutic biomarkers and gain new molecular insights
- Establish a multi-disciplinary functional precision medicine (FPM) tumour board to impact patient management and set research priorities.
This project will serve as a first step towards the integration of precision medicine to additional pediatric leukemia cases in a harmonized manner across Canada. It is hoped that the groundwork laid for this project will result in similar efforts being made for other high-risk leukemia in the future.
For more information, please contact Tricia Schneider.
Principal investigator(s):
Sonia Cellot