The key to early detection of childhood leukemia might be found in thousands of tiny fish soon to be swimming around in a Wayne State University lab.
The new research project is using zebrafish to identify the genetic and environmental factors that in combination may lead to the development of childhood leukemia. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and teens, accounting for almost one out of three cancers.
The work is being funded by Kids Without Cancer, a non-profit group of parents whose children have been treated for cancer at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. The group has committed $356,000 to Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers.
The financial support will result in the creation of a new zebrafish aquatic housing system in WSU’s Integrative Biosciences Center and support of 10 years of pediatric cancer research. The new system will be installed in 2017.
The goal? Researchers hope to find out if a common pesticide is a trigger that flips a switch in a specific gene, causing leukemia in children.
First, researchers, with financial support from Kids Without Cancer, were able to breed zebrafish with the human leukemia genes.
“We had so much success with our original support that we saw the potential of additional scientific breakthroughs if we could ramp the research up,” said Chris Vandenberg, executive director of Kids Without Cancer.
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SOURCE: USA Today; Detroit Free Press, David Jesse
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