Patients taking cancer drug to have blood analysed in leukaemia probe

THE blood of patients taking a revolutionary Melbourne drug that “melts” leukaemia cells will be analysed to uncover why some cancers evade destruction or become resistant to treatment.

THE blood of patients taking a revolutionary Melbourne drug that “melts” leukaemia cells will be analysed to uncover why some cancers evade destruction or become resistant to treatment.

New technology capable of analysing thousands of cancer cells in a single second is being tested on patients in clinical trials of the new anti-cancer drug venetoclax and other next generation therapies.

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Venetoclax, developed and tested here in Australia, has ­delivered impressive results in those with the most common form of blood cancer: chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research’s Associate Professor Daniel Gray said every patient responded differently to treatment and they aimed to pinpoint why.

Associate Professor Daniel Gray is analysing blood cancer cells to work out why some evade destruction. Picture: WEHI

“We know from previous studies that some people will respond really well and others will not, and we hope to learn what’s special about the cancers of people who are resistant to therapy,” Prof Gray said.

Vials of blood from 50 leukaemia patients on two clinical trials of venetoclax and other new therapies will be collected for the study.

More than 40 different molecular probes will be attached to cancer cells from the blood samples and technology called mass cytometry will be used to study the cells.

“This technology allows us to analyse each individual cell at a speed of more than 1000 cells per second,” Prof Gray said. “The data ... will allow us to build ‘family trees’ of the cancer cells in each patient.”

They want to understand how differences in cancer cell populations help them survive treatment, focusing on how their “kill switches” operate.

Around 1200 Australians are diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia each year. Picture: iStock

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Each patient will have a “family tree” made of their cancer cell population, and they will be analysed before and after treatment.

The study is one of 11 projects to share $3.5 million from Cancer Council Victoria’s Grants-in-Aid program announced on Monday.

Chief executive Todd Harper said it focused on distributing their donors’ funding to the “very best and brightest” cancer researchers.

Other projects include a mesothelioma treatment, osteoporosis drugs that could be used for stomach and bowel cancers, and research into weight loss and muscle-­wasting in cancer patients.

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