Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Within the bone marrow, hematopoietic stem cells rapidly and continuously differentiate into all of the cells constituting the blood. These stem cells are exposed to a complex combination of signals that directs differentiation towards one particular lineage and eventually one specific blood cell type. The two main lineages include the myeloid lineage, giving rise to cells such as erythrocytes (red blood cells), and the lymphoid lineage, giving rise to cells such as B- and T-cells (members of the white blood cells). Very rarely, signaling mechanisms of these stem cells can become defective, resulting in a complete halt in differentiation. This causes blasts (immature cells) to continuously accumulate, and if components that suppress cell growth also become deficient, this results in leukemia. When this abhorrent transformation occurs in the myeloid lineage, this is known as myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by the rapid accumulation of blasts, with severe and often fatal symptoms occurring within weeks, thus making this one of the most lethal types of cancers. 5-year survival rests at around 28% in the United States, while only at 21% in Canada – this is only a ~20% increase since 1975. For over 35 years, the standard of treatment for AML has continuously been the same intensive chemotherapy regiment. Why does it remain a challenge to find new and effective treatments for AML? What aspects of this disease make it so difficult to improve patient survival? This talk dives into the physiological complexities of AML as well as current and rising treatments and how these may impact the future of thousands of patients.

Junbum Im is a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Oncology program, specializing in translational research for acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma. His goals involve moving promising new drugs from petri dish to bedside, in hopes of improving patient survival while reducing side effects. He hopes to continue working within the field of hematology to help steadily close the survival gap between Canada and the United States, creating a positive impact one patient at a time.