Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a form of blood cancer that progresses quickly and prevents the body’s ability to form healthy blood cells. Without healthy blood cells, patients are left without the amount of red and white blood cells and platelets necessary for normal life sustaining bodily functions, including carrying oxygen to the organs, fighting infection, and clotting.
Current treatment of AML generally consists of chemotherapy, and in some instances, a Hematopoietic Cell Transplant (HCT) to attempt to clean out the bone marrow of remaining cancer cells.
This clinical approach to AML treatment has not significantly changed in decades and outcomes remain poor with around 40% of transplanted patients experiencing cancer relapse. These patients have two-year survival rates of less than 20%. Post-transplant maintenance therapies have been tried in newly transplanted patients, though none have been approved as these therapies can be toxic to the fragile HCT graft. A more effective approach to HCTs is long overdue.