Disease Fact Sheets
All Diseases	Leukemia

CIRM funds cancer research including basic research into cancer stem cells, the cells that many researchers believe are at the heart of cancer. Other projects are moving the basic research toward new therapies, including one clinical trial that is already underway.

If you want to learn more about CIRM funding decisions or make a comment directly to our board, join us at a public meeting. You can find agendas for upcoming public meetings on our meetings page.

Learn more about stem cell research:
Stem Cell Basics Primer | Stem Cell Videos | What We Fund

Find clinical trials:
CIRM does not track stem cell clinical trials. If you or a family member is interested in participating in a clinical trial, please see the national trial database to find a trial near you: clinicaltrials.gov

Description

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells in which the bone marrow creates abnormal white blood cells that are ineffective at their normal job of fighting infection.

Eventually, these abnormal cells crowd out the normal blood cells because they replicate faster than normal white cells and they don’t stop growing. Normal blood cells include white cells, red cells, which transport oxygen throughout the body, and platelets, which heal wounds by clotting blood. Without a sufficient population of working blood cells, people with leukemia develop symptoms such as anemia, bleeding and infections. The abnormal cells can also spread to lymph nodes and cause swelling.

There are four types of leukemia: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is common in children; Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), which affects both children and adults; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is the most common leukemia in older adults; and Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), which occurs mostly in adults.

Recent research has shown that in addition to these abnormal white cells, leukemia patients also have a small population of cells called leukemia stem cells. These cells have stem cell–like properties including the ability to develop into a variety of differentiated cells, to self-renew, and to remain inactive for long periods of time. But they also contain mutations that make them the seeds of new leukemia cells. Scientists suspect that these cells evade treatments that kill leukemia cells and later go on to cause a relapse that is resistant to known treatments.

Catriona Jamieson of the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center discusses a clinical trial for a pre-leukemia condition that was based in part on CIRM funding

CIRM Grants Targeting Leukemia

CIRM Leukemia Videos

Disease Team Award

CIRM has funded two multidisciplinary leukemia teams led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University. All Disease Team Award recipients are expected to meet milestones along the path to reaching FDA clinical trial submission within four years. 

• Read about the CIRM Disease Teams
• Read the UCSD disease team public summary
• Read the Stanford disease team public summary

CIRM funded two multidisciplinary teams that intend to develop drugs aimed at destroying leukemia stem cells. The group led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego will translate what is known about the molecular vulnerabilities of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) into a highly active anti-leukemia stem cell therapy (HALT). The collaborative team of pharmaceutical experts, basic scientists and clinicians will test drug candidates already in use or under evaluation in the pharmaceutical industry against model systems developed from patient-donated LSCs to determine which drugs are most effective at eradicating these evasive, cancer-causing cells.

The Stanford University team will create an antibody therapy that blocks a protein shown to protect leukemia stem cells from elimination by the patient’s own immune system.

News and Information

• CIRMResearch Blog entries on cancer research progress
• Leukemia under the microscope (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Bad Seeds: Cancer's Ultimate Source (Stanford Medicine)
• The True Seeds of Cancer (Stanford Medicine)
• From Bench to Bedside in a Year (UC San Diego)
• Living with Leukemia: Theresa Blanda (CIRM)

Resources

• NIH: Leukemia information
• Find a clinical trial near you: NIH Clinical Trials database
• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
• Leukemia Research Foundation
• Stem Cell Network blood cancers page
• Family Caregiver Alliance
• National Family Caregivers Association