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Acute
High Risk Leukemia
Aside from examining widespread
diseases, ZAFES also looks at
diseases effecting a smaller
number of patients. One of these
so called “orphan indications”
is the acute high risk leukemia
found in children. The cause
of this disease is a so-called
chromosomal translocation of
the MLL-gene. Microbiologist
and ZAFES Board member, Prof
Dr. Rolf Marschalek,
of the Institute for Pharmacological
Biology, along with Prof. Dr.
Thomas Klingelbiel,
director of the Frankfurt Children’s
Clinic, are dedicated to researching
this life threatening disease.
Approximately 600 children worldwide
are effected by this disease
each year. Marschalek and Klingelbiel
aim to fully understand the
mechanisms involved in this
disease, and to optimize the
diagnosis and therapy. Their
goal is to develop novel therapeutics
which are able to interfere
in the phatogenic mechanisms
responsible for this type of
leukemia. These rational therapy
approaches could increase the
survival rate of affected patients.
The preliminary test systems
are established in preparation
for a pharma-screening, which
is done in order to identify
pharmacological leads. A pharma
screening can only be done in
cooperation with industrial
partners who are contacted and
coordinated through ZAFES.
For
more details see the article
in “Forschung Frankfurt”
2/2004
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