SCIENTISTS in the region have been given £100,000 to find better ways of treating children who fail to respond to treatment.

The grant, from the Leuk-aemia Research Fund, will be used to help the minority of young leukaemia patients whose systems do not react well to the cancer-killing drug vincristine.

If scientists at Newcastle University are successful with their research, they should be able to come up with drug combinations which kill cancer cells.

Vincristine, an alkaloid compound from the rosy periwinkle plant, is widely used at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, to clear leukaemia cells from the bone marrow.

Before a bone marrow transplant can be attempted, the marrow must be completely free of cancer cells.

The drug is given in the first phase of treatment to youngsters with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

While the great majority of children with this form of cancer respond well to vincristine, a small number are more resistant.

They require further drug treatment, which increases the risk of side-effects such as muscle weakness, fits and painful limbs.

Professor Andrew Hall, who heads Newcastle University's molecular pharmacology programme, said: "We will be trying to decide what is the best combination of cancer drugs for each individual patient. At the moment, we have a bit of a one-size-fits-all approach, but every patient is genetically different and we need a more bespoke approach."

The researchers are particularly interested in the human genes MDR1 and MRP1, which in some children appear to help leukaemia cells survive drug treatment.

If a way can be found to disarm this mechanism, scientists hope that all children will be able respond to treatment.

Acute lymphoblastic leuk-aemia accounts for 85 per cent of childhood leukaemias. About 80 per cent of children are cured of this form of the disease.

The challenge is to find a cure for the others, for whom existing treatment is not good enough. It is vital that any improved treatment can be easily tolerated by children, and risks of life-threatening complications reduced.

During the research, blood cells from more than 50 children with leukaemia will be analysed by a team led by Dr Julie Irving.