Identification of oncogenes from myeloid leukaemias by retroviral expression cloning

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The success rates for treatment of most myeloid leukaemias remain relatively poor, with 5-year survival rates of 40-50% overall. Thus there is a clear need for improvements in diagnosis and particularly treatment. An important and relatively new approach for doing this is to target the specific molecular and genetic alterations that lead to these diseases. This requires the identification of these alterations, particularly the oncogenes ('cancer genes') that cause or contribute to the various forms of myeloid leukaemia. However in many cases (up to 50%), the key oncogenes involved in have not and-or cannot be identified using current methods. This project aims to develop and apply a powerful technique called 'retroviral expression cloning' for the identification of oncogenes involved in myeloid leukaemia. In essence our approach is to identify oncogenes from myeloid leukaemia samples on the basis of their function - that is, by virtue of their ability to induce dysregulated or uncontrolled growth of blood-derived cells in culture.