Current Research

Research for childhood ALL is ongoing. The following advances may still be under investigation in clinical trials and may not be approved or available at this time. Always discuss all diagnostic and treatment options with your doctor.

Monitoring leukemia recurrence. New methods for detecting small numbers of leukemic cells, too small to see under a microscope, were introduced in the 1990s. These techniques are now being used to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) following remission. There are times when measurements of MRD, in blood or bone marrow samples, will be used to determine your child’s risk level and treatment. Research is ongoing to determine the level of MRD, measured at which time point, that affects the rate of recurrence and whether changes in treatment will impact the meaning of these measurements and their affect on the cure. Current investigations are studying the relationship between the biology of the leukemic cells and these measurements.

New treatments. Finding new ways to treat leukemia are important areas of research. New drugs to kill leukemia cells, such as the T-cell-specific drug nelarabine (Arranon), and the antibody epratuzumab (LymphoCide) are under investigation and may improve the cure rate for children with ALL in the future. Other new agents—antibodies, chemotherapy, and other biologically active agents—are being explored with the hope that they will increase the cure rate and/or decrease the likelihood of side effects.