Inspirational Stories

William Carroll, M.D., is the leader of a five-year LLS Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grant.

Dr. Carroll’s laboratory focuses on discovering the biological pathways that play a role in drug resistance and relapse in the most common pediatric cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The outcome for most of these children has improved dramatically over the past four decades but between 10-20% of children will suffer relapse and their prognosis is dismal. His lab has discovered a number of very unique changes that occur in patients from the time they are diagnosed to the time they relapse, which may lead to a greater understanding of resistance to chemotherapy. His lab is now working to target those pathways in preclinical work and clinical trials. By employing “"epigenetic therapy" (small chemical modifications to DNA) to reprogram these pathways, their hope is to once again make these cancer cells responsive to chemotherapy.