A study by the Stanford University School of Medicine scientists offers hope of prolonging the life of children suffering from a deadly form of leukemia. The researchers found that Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK), a sugar regulating enzyme that was thought to protect against cancer, actually promotes "mixed lineage" leukemia (MLL). The deadly form of the disease, MLL can start either in the lymph nodes or bone marrow and accounts for 5-10 % of child and adult leukemia and over three quarters of infant leukemia.

The researchers from Stanford University in California hope this discovery can lead for new drugs to treat this cancer. Lab tests conducted on mice showed that the drugs MLL lithium, a drug used to treat bipolar disease in humans, blocked the GSK 3 and helped the mice with MLL survive for longer than the untreated mice.

Dr. Michael Cleary, study senior author and a professor of pathology and of pediatrics said, "This finding was quite unexpected. GSK3 has never been implicated in promoting cancer." Previously studies had shown GSK3 stopping uncontrolled cell growth, preventing several forms of cancer which led Dr. Cleary to call his findings on GSK3 "paradoxical and unexpected."

Since MLL patients don't typically respond well to chemotherapy like in the case of other forms of leukemias, the findings are a breakthrough. They indicate that GSK3 may be a good target for future leukemia drugs since attacking it may not only kill cancer cells but also increase the growth of healthy bone marrow stem cells.

"I think where we need to go in the future is to come up with better inhibitors that can be administered long-term," Dr. Cleary said.  The study was published in the journal Nature.