Dr Nick Wong
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Can the environment cause childhood leukaemia ? If so, how and when does this occur ?
Dr Nick Wong
Although leukaemia can be classified into different subgroups using molecular landmarks, we still do not know what causes some children to develop leukaemia. In addition it is widely known that the age at which children first develop leukaemia can vary remarkably (even in identical twins) suggesting that environment may plays a major role in the process. However, at present it is unclear how this happens. The environment can "finely tune" the way our genes work through a process known as epigenetics. In leukaemia and in most other cancers, it is clear that disruption of this "fine tuning" can cause disease or speed up disease progression.
Using state-of-the-art technology we, at the Epigenetics Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (http://www.mcri.edu.au), are able to study and identify changes in epigenetics associated with leukaemia development in children in an attempt to uncover the role of the environment in leukaemia development.
We aim to study how this fine tuning of genes is affected in children with leukaemia. We will pay particular attention to identical twins where one twin has leukaemia and other does not. In such cases, environmentally induced epigenetic changes are likely play a pivotal role in disease development. By studying this process, we hope to ultimately identify people at risk of developing this debilitating disease, tailor treatments to individuals, and possibly prevent the occurrence of leukaemia in young children and adults.
