New Avenues of Translational Research in Leukemia and Lymphoma: Outgrowth of a Leukemia Society of America-National Cancer Institute Workshop

Abstract

The workshop was organized on the premise that truly innovative approaches are needed if we are to significantly change the clinical outcomes for leukemias and lymphomas. Several new concepts and pioneering approaches surfaced during the workshop discussions, as summarized above. The design and implementation of translational clinical trials that emphasize these innovative strategies were encouraged as a way to test the concepts put forward at the workshop. Representatives of the Leukemia Society of America and the National Cancer Institute plan to continue their dialogue to develop recommendations regarding the priorities for linked clinical-laboratory investigations on the hematopoietic malignancies and the optimal ways in which to foster such translational research. To this end, the explosion in basic science discoveries during the last two decades and especially during the last 5 years is producing a critical mass of knowledge. This knowledge, in turn, allows us to view leukemia from new perspectives that span molecular pathogenesis, epidemiology, early detection of minimal disease, and the selective targeting of critical leukemogenic mechanisms for therapeutic and ultimately preventive purposes. As in previous decades, during which leukemia has served as the testing ground for precedent-setting concepts of curative therapy (dose-intensity, non-cross-resistance-inducing combinations and aggressive therapy in the minimal residual disease state), leukemia should again serve as a clinical beacon for the identification and exploitation of new molecular targets for therapy. Any impact on curability and duration and quality of survival will be achieved only by building on the cumulative knowledge accrued at multiple levels--molecular and cellular levels as well as in the intact patient--and augmenting the momentum of the bidirectional exchange of information between the laboratory and the clinic that has characterized leukemia research from its incipience. The challenge is formidable and worthy of our most creative and concerted efforts.