Home> For patients & carers> Research Project: Improve treatment of patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Research Project: Improve treatment of patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

April 16, 2019 16:07 - x 00, 0 - 00:00

AML, Leukemia, Research Project

This study will explore the diverse nature of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and look at how interactions between different genes might influence treatment outcomes.


AML is an aggressive form of leukemia which is often associated with poor survival. AML develops from mutated stem cells, making it an extremely complex and diverse form of cancer. The incorporation of data from 5,000–10,000 patients with AML into The HARMONY Big Data Platform should improve doctor’s knowledge of the gene–gene interactions that occur in AML. This will help to predict how patients are likely to respond to a specific treatment.

Answering the key questions in AML: AML is a complex disease in which the body’s stem cells, the building blocks of all other types of cell, develop mutations in key genes. The diverse nature of AML can significantly affect treatment outcomes. Large numbers of patients are needed in order to fully examine the potential effects of all the different gene mutations that can occur in this leukemia.

The HARMONY Big Data Platform will bring together data from 5000–10,000 patients with AML, helping doctors to improve their knowledge of the gene–gene interactions that occur. This information may allow doctors to predict the likely response of patients to any particular treatment. By improving their knowledge of a patient’s disease, doctors may also be able to move towards more personalized treatment approaches and the development of novel approaches to combining different treatments.

The HARMONY Big Data Platform will collect AML patient data from clinical studies carried out across Europe. Data from public information stores and studies sponsored by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), such as the Novartis-sponsored RATIFY trial, will also be included. In addition to helping patients with AML, this study may also benefit patients with aggressive cases of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Such patients are often treated similarly to patients with leukemia. The HARMONY Big Data Platform will help doctors to compare the results when MDS patients are treated in the same way as AML patients who receive an identical regimen. This analysis may then be a first step towards linking data on AML with that for MDS.


What will be the impact?

By gaining a better understanding of the biology of AML, this study will help to optimize everyday clinical care of patients and ensure a personalized treatment approach can be taken.


Read more about this Research Project >

Read about the HARMONY Patient Cluster and learn how patients are involved >


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