Dr. Takahashi on Biomarker That Predicts Development of Therapy-Related Leukemia

Koichi Takahashi, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a study exploring a potential biomarker for patients likely to develop therapy-related leukemia.

Researchers sequenced peripheral blood from patients at their original cancer diagnosis, Takahashi explains. Patients who developed therapy-related leukemia were found to have a prevalence of clonal hematopoiesis detecting the leukemia mutation at approximately 71% compared with 26% in the control cohort. This suggests that detection of this pre-leukemic hematopoiesis may predict the development of therapy-related leukemia.

Overall, this could be a potential biomarker that may be used for early detection. Eventually, researchers hope to therapeutically target the hematopoiesis to prevent the disease from occurring in the future, he adds.