Projects we fund

Overview

Children living with leukaemia and some other cancers are given brain-targeted chemotherapy, and although it usually offers a positive outcome, it’s toxic and can lead to reduced IQ, reduced attention span and impaired memory. Currently there’s no way to predict which children will develop these problems and there are no treatments to prevent or reduce them. So there’s an urgent need to design brand new therapies. In this exciting and wide-ranging study, young people will play fun computer games that test reaction times, attention span and problem solving skills. The results will be analysed to see if changes in the ability to perform these tasks predict long-term problems. The team will also collect samples taken during treatment, and analyse them with the aim of developing new diagnostic tests and antidotes.

What difference will this project make?

Although most children diagnosed with the form of leukaemia known as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) can now receive highly successful therapy, treatment-related toxicity can be a major problem. The vital work done by Dr Christina Halsey and her colleagues will determine whether it’s possible to identify children at risk of brain complications from chemotherapy. If so, these children would then be candidates for new approaches to reduce the damaging effects of chemotherapy on the brain. This could involve ‘brain training’ computer game-based programmes, new drugs or alterations in the chemotherapy regime. One important outcome of this study is that it will determine whether a drug target recently identified by Dr Peter Cole in New York might be relevant for young people who live with leukaemia. If so, this would offer an exciting new way to treat or prevent brain toxicity without interfering with the anti-cancer effects of chemotherapy. Although this study concentrates on paediatric ALL, many other childhood cancers are treated with chemotherapy that can damage the brain. The results could, therefore, have relevance to a wide range of childhood cancers.