Blood cancer research highlights
For Blood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re highlighting some of the standout blood cancer research that has been happening around the world this past year.
Research advances are being made every single day – and each new finding, no matter how small, helps us better understand and treat blood cancers.
97% of adults who receive a stem cell transplant from a donor in the have UK been diagnosed with blood cancer – and researchers are working towards a future where all blood cancers can be prevented or cured before a transplant is needed.
Here are some of the standout blood cancer research stories we’ve been following this year:
The importance of gut health
Gut health is of interest to researchers in many different areas – the particular bacteria and fungi in your gut (called the gut microbiome) can hugely influence your health, and particularly how your immune system works.
This year we saw a big news story from Cancer Research UK about the importance of having a diverse gut microbiome in the early stages of life – research shows that children with slower gut microbiome development could have a greater risk of developing leukaemia. Studies like this can help us gain a better understanding of what makes a healthy gut microbiome, and how to monitor and regulate it during childhood to help prevent disease.
We’ve previously covered the importance of the gut microbiome following a stem cell transplant, when patients really need to recover their new immune system well. Because stem cell transplants involve strong drugs that have a major impact on the gut microbiome, patients can often lose the ability of the gut microbiome to support their new immune system, and this can contribute to the development of severe side effects like graft versus host disease (GvHD).
A so-called ‘faecal transplant’ (also called a stool or poo transplant) can help restore a diverse gut microbiome after a stem cell transplant – potentially helping to regulate the immune system and reduce the risk of developing GvHD. One such treatment in clinical trials is showing promising initial results.
More research into GvHD and the gut microbiome this year has revealed that particular types (or families) of bacteria are associated with a reduced risk of both GvHD and cancer relapse in stem cell transplant patients. The researchers suggest that these families of bacteria (Lachnospiraceae and Oscillospiraceae) can help control the immune system, and future treatments could focus on boosting these particular bacteria in patients.
Another study has shown that patients undergoing CAR-T cell therapy who have less diverse gut microbiomes had worse outcomes from the therapy. The researchers also revealed several families of bacteria that can be linked with better outcomes, and suggested specific types of antibiotics that should be avoided in order to protect these types of bacteria in CAR-T patients.
Overall there’s a huge amount of promise in research into the gut microbiome, as it could help us significantly improve post-transplant care for stem cell transplant patients.
Keeping your gut microbiome healthy
You may be wondering what you can do to maintain a healthy gut microbiome. Unfortunately there’s no easy answer, because everyone has a different gut and different health requirements. One person’s healthy microbiome may not be quite the right one for you! Some good general advice is to have a balanced diet with lots of plant-based foods, and occasional fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, natural miso, or tempeh, to name just a few...
Here’s a good overview of how to give your gut microbiome the best chance at staying healthy. The Guardian also have a short podcast episode about the gut microbiome.
Boosting the growth of blood stem cells
Because stem cell transplants rely on the growth and resilience of blood stem cells, gaining a complete understanding of what makes blood stem cells grow and thrive is a huge focus of research.
Until now, it’s been a little unclear exactly which genes control the growth of blood stem cells. This year, scientists discovered an important genetic ‘growth switch’ in blood stem cells. This discovery provides scientists with a new target to help blood stem cells grow quickly, boosting their therapeutic potential in treatments like stem cell transplants. We recently posted about this research on Linkedin if you’d like to learn more.
Researchers have also recently discovered a unique way to keep blood stem cells healthy and active in the laboratory. Growing blood stem cells in a lab environment can be crucial for some cellular therapies – but the cells can often slow down and tire out in the lab before being given to patients. This research has identified a drug that could help keep blood stem cells thriving for longer while they’re being prepared for cell-based gene therapies like Casgevy.
Widening match possibilities with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy)
Cyclophosphamide is a chemotherapy drug that can also suppress the immune system. In recent years, doctors have been discovering that if they give patients a short course of this drug soon after their stem cell transplant, it can reduce the risk of graft versus host disease (GvHD). Considering that GvHD is one of the major side effects of a stem cell transplant, this is a big deal – and could potentially open up the door for patients to be able to have stem cell transplants from donors with a lesser degree of genetic matching.
The way PTCy helps reduce GvHD is by slowing down the growth of the highly active groups of immune cells that are more likely to attack friendly tissues. Keeping these active immune cells in check can make sure they aren’t running amok in the body, attacking friendly cells and causing GvHD.
A new retrospective study – meaning research on data from past records – has shown that for US patients, PTCy can make a 7/8 match produce just as good outcomes from a transplant as an 8/8 match. Many patients – especially those from minority ethnic backgrounds – don’t have access to 8/8, 10/10, or 12/12 matches, so PTCy could help these patients have better outcomes from transplant.
The study suggests that for African American patients, for example, widening the donor pool to include 7/8 matches could increase the number of these patients able to find a match on the NMDP register from 30% to over 80%.
Clinical trials are still underway to fully determine the best ways to use PTCy. But it’s already being used regularly in UK transplant centres, and many people expect it to catalyse huge changes in the way stem cell transplants are performed.
Read more about this research on our Facebook page.
Using 'genetic scissors' to discover new blood cancer treatments
The ‘genetic scissors’ technology CRISPR has been making waves, especially with the approval of the first ever CRISPR-based therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia late last year, and its ongoing review process for provision to patients through the NHS.
CRISPR technology has also been contributing to discoveries in blood cancer treatment, with recent research using CRISPR to discover a new treatment option for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The scientists used CRISPR to see the effects of cutting out genes in cancerous cells in the lab, helping the researchers home in on one particular protein that many AML cells rely on for energy. Luckily, a drug already exists that can hinder this protein, and the researchers showed that giving mice this drug can slow down the growth of AML tumours. We’ve got a social media post going into a bit more depth about this research, if you’d like to know more.
Some of Anthony Nolan's own standout research
It’s also been a big year for our own research teams, who work on a huge range of projects to improve our understanding of stem cell transplants, the genetics of the immune system, and new cellular therapies.
- Our Patient Reported Outcomes research team presented initial results from our landmark quality-of-life study PrEQoL and launched recruitment for its follow-on study SEQoL, to measure how a stem cell transplant affects many aspects of life.
- The Immunotherapy Group published new research into selecting the best cord blood units for transplant, which could help patients have more successful cord blood transplants.
- Our globally influential HLA Database (the IPD-IMGT/HLA Database) celebrated its 25th anniversary. This helps researchers and healthcare providers around the world stay up-to-date with the latest discovered HLA gene variants, making sure we're matching patients with donors as accurately as possible.
- We launched our new research strategy which aims to maximise our research impact and reach.
- We’ve invested £1 million in clinical trials organisation ACT.
- Dozens of our researchers presented their latest findings at international conferences.
Thank you to every one of our supporters who have made this lifesaving work possible. Without you we wouldn’t be able to continue building towards the next big scientific breakthroughs that will improve the way we treat patients with blood cancers.
A future where every patient with blood cancer can survive and thrive
These research stories just scrape the surface of the vast amount of blood cancer research happening around the world. Every researcher’s shared goal is to fully understand blood cancers, develop better treatments, and ultimately help every blood cancer patient survive and thrive.
A stem cell transplant can be a lifesaving treatment for people with blood cancer. Thanks to its amazing donors, since it was founded 50 years ago Anthony Nolan has made more than 26,500 transplants possible for people with blood cancer or blood disorders around the world.
Join the register today – you might just save a life.