At the 4th Annual Meeting of the European Research Initiative on ALK-related Malignancies (ERIA) on June 27-28, 2013 Moriggl and Kenner joined an international group of leading scientists in leukemia research.
The aim of this meeting was to strengthen cooperation and partnership of European research groups focused on ALK-related malignancies in order to accelerate scientific progress. ERIA cofounder Kenner anticipates that more efficacious and less toxic therapeutic strategies will be developed.
Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an aggressive T-cell lymphoma that affects mainly children but also adults. ALCL is further sub-divided into two disease entities based on expression of the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) oncogene, ALCL, ALK+ and ALCL, ALK-. The former category has a relatively good prognosis with a 5 year survival rate approaching 80% in comparison to 48% for the latter diagnostic entity. However, disease relapse is common (approximately 30% of cases) and whilst these patients remain sensitive to chemotherapy, treatment is often limited by its toxic side-effects.