CHAPEL HILL — Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill have identified an enzyme that helps trigger the development of
leukemia, a cancer of blood cells.

The enzyme hDOT1L activates a set of genes that plays a key role in the
rare and largely incurable acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This disease
affects less than 2 percent of the estimated 16,000 individuals
diagnosed with acute leukemia nationwide each year. The discovery,
based on research using bone marrow cells from mice, offers a potential
target for new drugs against this form of leukemia, the researchers
said.

Source:  University of North Carolina Press Release

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