The new biomarker is named the LSC17 score as it comes from the leukemia stem cells that drive disease and relapse. These dormant stem cells have properties that allow them to resist standard chemotherapy, which is designed to defeat rapidly dividing cancer cells.
The persistence of these stem cells is the reason the cancer comes back in patients despite being in remission following treatment. AML is one of the most deadly types of leukemia and the most common type of acute leukemia in adults; it increases in frequency as we age. In Canada, there are more than 1,200 new cases each year. The five-year survival ranges between 20% – 30% and is lower in older people.
