Grants Awarded

Principal Investigator
Nicola Elizabeth Annels MD
Leiden University Medical Center – Leiden, The Netherlands

Date of Award
September 2006

Amount of Award
$45,000

Layperson Summary
Langerhans cell histiocytosis is not only a disease of unknown cause but also there is still a lot of controversy about whether this is a malignant disease.  Defining what a tumor is is not easy.  However, in LCH there is clearly a dividing clonal cell population, a feature widely considered to be characteristic of a malignant tumor.  Further evidence that a cell is a tumor cell is that it has genetic abnormalities.  Genetic studies carried out to date in LCH have given conflicting or inconsistent results.  Thus, this project aims to provide a comprehensive study that will show whether there is indeed a genetic cause behind LCH.  Due to the fact that the disease process underlying LCH has so far remained unknown, many current treatments for LCH are empirical.  Thus, only once the nature of the disease has been resolved can a rational approach to treatment be achieved.