SCIENTISTS in the region are to become world leaders in leukaemia research after receiving a £1.7m boost.

The money from the European Union will be used to improve pioneering research which has already helped North-East leukaemia victim and mother Peggy Edmunds.

Doctors at Newcastle University and Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary are already at the cutting edge of genetic research designed to increase the number of successful bone marrow transplants for leukaemia victims.

The doctors should soon be able to predict to what extent genetic differences will affect the success of the transplants. That knowledge will help them to prescribe the most appropriate treatment after the operation to avoid life-threatening complications.

Peggy Edmunds, who lives in Buchanan Street, Stockton, was diagnosed as having acute leukaemia last year.

The North-East based doctors discovered that Ms Edmunds, a 52-year-old retired pub landlady, had a chance of contracting potentially fatal complications as a result of a bone-marrow transplant last December.

As a result of their work the problem was avoided and Ms Edmunds is now recovering at home. Her brother, Ralph, was the donor.

She said: "I have five brothers and two sisters but it was Ralph who was the best match.

I wasn't expecting to have tests in Newcastle but I was sent up there and they did tests on me which have helped and so far I've made a full recovery. In fact I've just come back from the bingo. I'd like to thank the staff at Ward 8 at the RVI, doctor Graham Jackson and, of course, my brother Ralph. I just hope the new research will help others as it helped me."

The new project will develop a unique network for the exchange of information from transplant patients and donors across Europe to create a Eurobank which will be co-ordinated in Newcastle. During the next three years about 300-500 patients and donor cell lines will be added to the bank.

Up to 4,000 bone marrow transplants are carried out each year in hospitals across Europe. About 30 are carried out each year in Newcastle. In about 40 per cent of cases cells from the donor's bone marrow attack the patients body as if it were a foreign body. It is hoped the new research will prevent that.

Project co-ordinator Dr Anne Dickinson said: "There is an urgent need for an accurate assessment of patient genetic risk in the development of transplant related complications and this should help us achieve that."

Updated: 16.02 Tuesday, June 26