Researchers at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer will seek to uncover why some patients develop resistance to ibrutinib – a common and effective therapy used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

CLL is the most common blood cancer and is currently incurable.

Dr Lauren Thurgood will use a Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant to analyse samples taken directly from patients, as well as cell lines which mimic the disease in the laboratory, to gather important information about how CLL cells respond to ibrutinib therapy.

Understanding what happens to CLL cells during this therapy paves the way for researchers’ long-term goal of earlier identification of patients developing resistance, so they may be offered additional or alternative therapies.

This research is made possible thanks to generous support from the community and our partners Mr Riggs Wine Company, Foodland and Bay to Birdwood.

Project title: Identification of novel biomarkers to predict response to ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)

Lead researcher: Dr Lauren Thurgood