Gene Test Predicts Leukaemia Survival
1 June 2011 - Institute of Cancer Research scientists have found that a genetic test can be used to identify patients with the most common type of adult leukaemia who will not respond well to currently available drugs and should instead be considered for experimental treatments.
They suggest that anyone diagnosed with progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) should be tested for the presence of the TP53 gene mutation before starting any treatment.
The team led by David Gonzalez de Castro and Professor Gareth Morgan scanned tumour samples from 529 CLL patients and found 40 (7.6 per cent) had a TP53 mutation.
Around 83 per cent of patients without the mutation responded to existing drugs, while just 27 per cent of patients with the mutation responded. One in five patients with the mutation was alive after five years, compared to three in five patients who did not carry the mutation.
