About 25 different stretches of DNA, especially active in the leukemia cells were found by researchers in Japan. It is being claimed that each of the 25 stretches could be used to propose a new drug to combat the disease. This study was published in Science Translational Medicine. Leukemia stem cells of 61 patients with blood stem cells of normal healthy adults were compared as a part of the study by Ishikawa and colleagues.

Lead researcher Fumihiko Ishikawa at the RIKEN Research Center for Allergy & Immunology in Yokohama said, "If we develop drugs against these molecules, we have a pretty good possibility of eliminating leukemia stem cells that cannot be killed by conventional anti-cancer drugs. The most serious problem in AML (acute myeloid leukemia) is that many undergo relapse and eventually die. The very important thing for us is how to overcome relapse in AML patients”.

However anti-cancer drugs, such as Novartis' Gleevec and AstraZeneca's Iressa, are already best-sellers as many cancer patients have been able to save their lives, but many other types of leukemia also exist and they need treatment accordingly. According to reports, 5 years after being first diagnosed merely 20% AML patients survive.