Diagnostics of new subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a proliferative hematological disease caused by impaired differentiation and excessive proliferation of immature lymphoid cells. Despite improvements in treatment efficacy, ALL remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in children and young adults.

In 2009, a new form of ALL with an unfavorable prognosis was distinguished - the so-called BCR-ABL-like ALL. This disease is characterized by specific mutations leading to excessive activation of tyrosine kinases, which gives a potential chance for the application of effective targeted therapies. Although current treatment protocols do not yet address BCR-ABL-like ALL as a disease requiring different management, the results of preclinical and clinical studies indicate that targeted therapy may improve the treatment efficacy of this form of ALL. One of the barriers to introducing new treatments, however, is the difficulty in diagnosing BCR-ABL-like ALL in routine clinical practice.
The main goal of the project is to develop a BCR-ABL-like ALL diagnostic algorithm using flow cytometry.

In the course of the project, it is planned to develop, optimize and validate the Ph-ind'ALL diagnostic algorithm for screening, allowing for the initial selection of patients using an extended immunophenotype of bone marrow aspirate. It will be the first test to enable the routine diagnosis of BCR-ABL-like ALL in routine practice. The project presented here has a chance to fill the gap between the available knowledge and scientific research, and everyday clinical practice and the implementation of personalized therapeutic solutions. The Ph-ind'em ALL algorithm responds to the unmet clinical need for the possibility of routine diagnosis of BCR-ABL1-like ALL and has a chance to significantly affect the prognosis of patients with this subtype of ALL with unfavorable prognosis.