Prof. Dr. Rūta Navakauskienė and Dr. Veronika Borutinskaitė, researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry, VU Life Sciences Center, together with their colleagues from VILNIUS TECH University, Prof. Dalius Navakauskas and Dr. Dalius Matuzevičius, have published a monograph ‘Epigenetics and Proteomics in Leukaemia - A Synergy of Experimental Biology and Computational Informatics’.
‘Several factors led to the creation of this monograph. First, nowadays, high technologies are developing very fast and are widely used, but one of the world's biggest health problems, cancer, still exists and has not been solved. Second, we set out to describe our scientific achievements after more than 20 years of active and productive research in the field of cancer treatment,’ says Prof. R. Navakauskiene about the monograph.
Ageing of the haematopoietic system is associated with various changes at the molecular, cellular and physiological levels. Changes in the function and expression of molecular factors and in age are key factors in the development of blood cancers such as leukaemia. Genetic and epigenetic alterations in individual leukaemia patients are very different, and therefore leukaemia treatment should be individualized, taking into account the patient's cytogenetic and epigenetic changes, biological age, drug tolerance, stage of the disease, etc., notes Prof. R. Navakauskienė.
The monograph focuses in particular on the mechanisms of action of various epigenetic modifiers, their impact on cancer cell growth and death, and their potential use in leukaemia therapy.
According to the professor, in the clinic, e.g. In the Centre for Haematology, Oncology and Transfusiology at the VU Santara Clinic, guidelines are developed to guide the selection of treatment after evaluation of different forms of leukaemia.
Treatment is selected on the basis of pre-treatment investigations such as medical history, blood and molecular tests. For example, if the patient is elderly or has comorbidities, then 'aggressive/intensive' treatment, which may be more effective, is not used. Here, patients are assigned to groups according to the tests performed, e.g. good prognostic group, favourable prognostic group, unfavourable prognostic group (over 65 years). Separate treatment protocols are provided for each group.
If there is no remission and a relapse is observed, then salvage treatment is applied, which also includes clinician-approved protocols.
The voluntary participation of patients in clinical trials conducted by VUL SK with hospitals in other countries are essential for the development of new treatment strategies for incurable leukaemias.
"The most important contribution here would be the selection of individualized treatments, as leukaemia patients whose disease is not controlled by existing and current therapies need to be studied at the molecular level, looking for a positive response to treatment using new drugs or combinations of drugs. Our contribution to this research is the greatest", says Prof. R. Navakauskienė.
The monograph is published by Springer.