On November 26th, Ko Zwemer from the Delmeco Group from Goes and Mr. Boers from Coffr from Amsterdam jointly made a donation of € 46,000 for the AML research done by PhD student Romy van Weelderen, who falls under VUmc Child Cancer Research (VONK). Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a rare form of blood cancer. Annually at around 25 children in the Netherlands are diagnosed with AML.
The donation will be used, among other things, for the so-called Pro-Teico study.
This is the international randomized controlled trial where they will investigate whether the antibiotic teicoplanin can reduce the number of blood poisoning, caused by streptococci from the Viridans group, if this is administered during the treatment of children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Important points why this research should take place are:
- Children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) run a high risk of serious infections due to the intensive treatment.
- Viridans Group Streptococci (VGS) are bacteria that cause blood poisoning in 1 in 3 to 4 children during AML treatment.
- These blood poisoning is associated with a high risk of serious side effects and death.
- In a large international randomized controlled trial, it will be investigated whether the antibiotic teicoplanin can reduce the number of blood poisoning caused by the VGS bacterium if this is given during the treatment of children with AML.
- Children with AML (0-19 years) from the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavian countries and Spain, treated according to the international NOPHO-DBH AML 2012 protocol, can participate in the study.
- The results will contribute to the development of international infection prevention guidelines, with the aim of reducing the number of infections and infection-related side effects in children with AML.