South Korean scientists have developed a technology to assess and predict treatment results in leukemia patients.
 
A team led by Professor Oh Il-hoan at the Catholic University of Korea said Tuesday that it examined the bone marrow of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and found that leukemic cells induce a change in the microenvironment of bone marrow stem cells, suppressing the growth of normal stem cells.
 
The team said that in the process, the patients exhibited distinct differences in the alteration of mesenchymal stem cells in bone marrow and this pattern will help doctors assess treatment results and the risk of relapse.
 
The research team plans to develop a bio-marker that allows a prognostic assessment of patients with acute leukemia.
 
The findings appeared in the latest edition of the journal Cancer Research.