Cypriot professor in leukaemia gene discovery

A team supervised by the University of Cambridge Cypriot Professor Dr George Vasiliou discovered how gene mutations affect hematopoiesis and cause leukaemia.

According to the Karaiskakio Foundation, a new study conducted by scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, European Bioinformatics Institute revealed how genetic mutations disrupt the production of blood and how these are related to ageing and the development of leukaemia.

The study, published in Nature journal, is the first to investigate the effect of genetic mutations on the dynamics of haematological cell growth.

Professor George Vasiliou, lead author of the study, Professor of Hematology at the University of Cambridge and Senior Researcher at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, said: “This interaction explains the development of different haematological malignancies at different ages.

“With this new understanding, we can focus on developing approaches/treatments to prevent these incurable diseases.”

All human cells acquire genetic changes in their DNA during their lifetime, with a small number of specific mutations leading the cells to proliferate.

This process, called clonal hematopoiesis, is becoming more common with age and is a risk factor for developing leukaemia and other age-related conditions.

The researchers monitored nearly 700 blood cell clones from 385 people over 55. In addition, participating volunteers donated blood samples regularly for many years.

The researchers found that the behaviour of clones changed dramatically with age, depending on the identity of the mutated gene.

These changes in the behaviour of different genes/clones reflect the frequency of occurrence of different types of leukaemia, explaining for the first time why different haematological malignancies develop at different ages.