New Approach for Smarter, Safer Cancer Treatment

Department of Clinical Pharmacy Professor Janel Long-Boyle, PharmD, PhD, is part of a research team behind a conditioning treatment that gives children with blood cancers like leukemia the least amount of chemotherapy needed and allows them to skip radiation entirely. 

Haunted by her sister’s leukemia treatment, Long-Boyle developed an algorithm to compute a precise chemotherapy conditioning dose based on genetics, sex, race, immune cell count, kidney function, and other factors, in addition to height and weight. The precision chemo and lack of radiation dramatically reduce side effects and raise survival rates, according to recent research findings reported in Blood Advances and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

Long-Boyle’s algorithm is the first in the world to demonstrate the benefits of the new conditioning approach. “This is a direct example of how research funding goes from bench to bedside, developing treatments in the lab that reach patients,” said Long-Boyle, who co-authored the paper along with pediatric hematologist-oncologist Christopher Dvorak, MD.  

Together they are expanding research partnerships with institutions like the University of Utah, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s National Hospital, and Children’s Wisconsin, offering their clinical expertise free of charge to colleagues.