Bayesian Modelling of Response to Therapy and Drug-Sensitivity in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a heterogeneous haematologic malignancy involving the abnormal proliferation of immature lymphocytes and accounts for most paediatric cancer cases. The management of ALL in children has seen great improvement in the last decades thanks to greater understanding of the disease leading to improved treatment strategies evidenced through clinical trials. Common therapy regimens involve a first course of chemotherapy (induction phase), followed by treatment with a combination of anti-leukemia drugs. A measure of the efficacy early in the course of therapy is the presence of minimal residual disease (MRD). MRD quantifies residual tumor cells and indicates the effectiveness of the treatment over the course of therapy. MRD positivity is defined for values of MRD greater than 0.01