Unraveling a Leukemia Thread
August 13, 2008
A potentially important step in the treatment of leukemia has been taken by researchers who used an x-ray beamline at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source to determine the structure of a receptor in the blood control system that, when damaged, is responsible for a variety of diseases, including certain types of leukemia and some inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. This discovery helps to explain, for the first time, how this receptor is activated and could form a springboard for the development of new treatments.