Peptide blocks DNA breaks tied to treatment-induced leukemia, offering new prevention route

Thanks to effective therapies, more and more people are now able to live with or after cancer in the long term. Consequently, the number of patients affected by the long-term effects of their treatment is also increasing. Secondary leukemias are particularly serious. These can develop when cellular stress caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy triggers DNA breaks in specific regions of the genome. If these breaks are incorrectly repaired by the body's own repair mechanisms, detrimental rearrangements can occur that promote the development of leukemia.