Local researchers study drug resistance and leukemia relapse

Local medical experts revealed the relapse mechanism of acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, as well as the reasons for drug resistance, paving the way for leukemia treatment options.

AML is a common type of blood cancer, and chemotherapy is the primary treatment option. Patients, however, are highly prone to relapse. Following an extensive study, the Shanghai 9th People's Hospital medical team discovered that lipid metabolism increases immunological escape and resistance in AML treatment.

Shi Jun of the hospital's hematology department led the research that created leukemia cells and a disease model lacking CD36, a transporter for exogenous lipids, and discovered that CD36 enhances AML immune evasion, which accelerates disease progression.

They also discovered that popular chemotherapy medications can boost CD36's immunological response, leading to drug resistance.

"But we also found lipid-lowering statin drugs can improve the efficacy of chemotherapy by weakening CD36-mediated immunosuppression," Shi said.

"The discovery can provide new thinking in clinical practice and help improve chemotherapy outcomes by reducing relapse."

The discovery was published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.