Race Oncology Ltd (ASX:RAC) has provided US$541,760 in support funding to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, which is leading an imaging study for the detection of extramedullary Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).
Recent studies suggest extramedullary leukaemia is under-recognised and under-reported with negative implications for patient diagnoses and treatment.
Race believes the use of MRI in combination with 18FDG-PET (PET) imaging could more accurately detect extramedullary leukaemia in AML patients compared to standard clinical practice.
“It is a privilege to be supporting these clinicians to advance this important clinical trial,” Race Oncology chief scientific officer Daniel Tillet said.
“The findings from this trial have the potential of changing current clinical practice, enabling haematologists to better treat AML patients.”
Possible synergy with Zantrene
Extramedullary (EMD) leukaemia occurs when leukaemic cells spread from the bone marrow and form solid tumours in other tissues such as the skin, breast, kidney or brain.
EMD has been considered rare, however recent studies suggest EMD AML is much more common.
A 2013 study of 26 newly diagnosed AML patients found that PET imaging detected extramedullary disease in 65% of the patients. Recently, Stolzel et al identified EMD in 22% of AML patients using PET imaging alone.
Extramedullary AML patients have no clinically approved treatments and limited experimental treatment options, with many clinical trials explicitly excluding this difficult-to-treat form of AML.
Race Oncology is investigating the application of its treatment Zantrene in EMD AML.
The company’s RAC-006 clinical trial has received human ethics approval and is expected to enrol the first patient next year.
“We are pleased to be supporting this important project investigating extramedullary disease which is an area of increasing interest within the AML field,” Race Oncology interim chief medical officer Dr Ajay Duggal said.
“This project complements our ongoing clinical trial RAC-006 and we look forward to learning the results of this project and possibly expanding our collaboration with these investigators in the near future.”