The new study, led

A team led by Professor Tony Green, Department of Haematology and CIMR have discovered a new test for chronic blood cancers. Currently around 60 per cent of cases can be identified with an existing blood test, but the cause of the remaining 40 per cent was unknown. Says Professor Green, “Diagnosing these chronic blood cancers is currently difficult and requires multiple tests, some of which are invasive and painful.”

by the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and supported by Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research together with the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, has identified a new gene: CALR, which, when mutated, results in chronic blood cancers.  Dr Jyoti Nangalia, first author of the paper says, “Our discovery will lead to a new, less invasive test, and ultimately, it is hoped, new treatments.”

You can read the paper in the New England Journal of Medicine.