Evaluation of Dried Blood Spot technology in preclinical and clinical development

Abstract

Leukemia is a group of cancers that starts in blood-forming tissues such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the bloodstream. Worldwide over 250000 people are diagnosed with leukemia each year, accounting for 2.5% of all cancers. 75000 new patients are diagnosed in Europe each year (in USA around 40000). All age groups can be affected, but leukemias are the most common pediatric cancers accounting for 35% of cancers in children aged 0-14 years. The recent advances in diagnostics, therapy and improvements to therapy protocols lead to long-term curing, with an overall five-year survival rate of almost 80% in children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). There is still an utmost need for new treatment options and new devices can potentially help in personalizing therapy of leukemias. The MEDLEM consortium ** addresses this challenge. Namely, implementation of this project will help in both detection of high risk patients, especially children, and general improvement of the human condition during chemotherapy. Its overall goal is to increase five and ten-year survival rates of patients with leukemia. Methotrexate MTX is currently a standard treatment for Leukemia and the optimization of MTX administration is the central subject of MEDLEM studies.