Anthony Moorman, PhD, of Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK, discusses the current UKALL14 trial (NCT01085617) for adults aged 25-65 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The trial is the first of its kind to implement genetics for risk stratification, identifying 4 high risk mutations to guide treatment. Prof. Moorman notes how even when high risk patients were treated as such, they still had significantly worse outcomes – for example, patients with JAK-STAT abnormalities, who experienced extremely high chances of relapse and death. Moreover, he notes that the number of patients with ABL-class fusions was lower than expected, suggesting imatinib is of less use than hoped. Finally, Prof. Moorman highlights how individuals with ZNF384 rearrangements had an excellent outcome throughout the trial. This video was recorded the 23rd congress of European Hematology Association (EHA) 2018, held in Stockholm, Sweden.
UKALL14: implementing genetics in ALL research
