Delfim Duarte wins FAZ Ciência prize to develop leukaemia therapies

Acute myeloid leukaemia is responsible for approximately 60% of leukaemia deaths, affects 15 adults in every 100,000 people annually, and has a low survival rate, particularly in a smaller group of patients who have a very aggressive genetic subtype. Finding new therapies for these patients is the goal of the winning project of the FAZ Science Award, led by researcher Delfim Duarte.

This award, worth 35,000 euros, is an annual initiative of the AstraZeneca Foundation and aims to recognise the best translational research projects (which include empirical research and fieldwork) in oncology developed in Portugal. In this edition, 24 applications were submitted, with the i3S researcher winning first prize.

Called “Unravelling the immune and stromal microenvironment of acute myeloid leukaemia with TP53 mutation”, Delfim Duarte’s project aims to “map and manipulate, with genetic engineering and drugs, the bone marrow microenvironment that interacts with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells of a genetic subtype – a mutation of the TP53 gene – that is particularly aggressive and responds poorly to existing treatments, AML with TP53 mutation”.

By discovering the mechanisms of AML with this mutation, says the i3S researcher and haematologist at IPO-Porto, “our aim is to develop new therapies”. To this end, adds Delfim Duarte, “we will use innovative animal models that enable the marking of the malignant microenvironment and sequencing and imaging techniques”.

At the FAZ Science award ceremony, which took place on the 18th of September at the headquarters of AstraZeneca Portugal, the president of the AstraZeneca Foundation, Maria do Céu Machado, stressed that “support for scientific research and the resulting contributions are fundamental for patients and healthcare professionals” and that the “excellent research” in oncology carried out in Portugal regarding new therapies and diagnostic and prevention techniques “must be honoured and rewarded”.