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Beating Relapse
21 March 2014

Beating Relapse

Cancer cells can become treatment-resistant, acquiring mutations that aid their survival and lead to disease relapse. But now scientists studying T-cell leukaemia [a type of blood cancer] have found that cells can acquire a potent survival mutation spontaneously. By allowing cancerous cells with different mutations (two types shown in blue and yellow on the right) to compete for survival in zebrafish (pictured) they identified which mutations caused the most cases of relapse. Lasting more than five years and involving over 6,000 fish, the study found that the majority of relapse-causing cells had a mutation in a gene called AKT, which opened up a pathway for cells to signal each other. When this pathway was active there was resistance to chemotherapy. Blocking AKT allowed the treatment to kill cancerous human cells. Identifying patients with an AKT-mutated tumour could help doctors prescribe the most effective treatment, curbing the risk of relapse.

Written by Richard Kemeny

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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