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Childhood leukemia: how a deadly cancer became treatable

Before the 1970s, most children affected by leukemia would quickly die from it. Now, most children in rich countries are cured.

2 One reason may be that blood-forming tissues are especially active during childhood, when the body grows quickly and needs a steady supply of new blood cells to carry oxygen, fight infections, and form clots. This included finding the right combinations and dosages for different risk groups, adjusting treatment timing and duration to minimize toxic side effects, and identifying subgroups that could safely receive less intensive chemotherapy. By uncovering which genetic mutations drove different subtypes of the disease, researchers could better identify which children were likely to benefit from standard therapy, and which needed more intensive chemotherapy or other types of treatment, as part of the “risk stratification” approach mentioned earlier.

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