The protein INPP4B discovered by the team among patients with Lukemia was found to make the chemotherapy ineffective. "We have been working to find out how the gene was making the chemotherapy unsuccessful," said Rijal.
Rijal hoped that the discovery would help change the cancer treatment process, which is in practice for over 40 years. "The discovery will help scientists look for other methods of treatment other than chemotherapy," said she.
Doctors give chemotherapy course to leukemia patients. Twenty-nine year old Rijal and her team had conducted the research in the supervision of Dr Andrew Wei.
According to Rijal, the study was conducted among over 200 leukemia patients. The research conducted by Rijal and her team has been published in The Blood, a medical journal.
The protein discovered in the study was supposed to be a tumor suppressor in breast cancer. It is said that the protein can be used as another biomarker of the disease. Rijal said that she and other researchers of her team have been focusing on how the gene acts in leukemic cells to cause chemo resistance. If the researchers find how it works, they can target the protein and pathway to treat acute myeloid leukemia more effectively.
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