Background

Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. Types of leukemia include acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and hairy cell leukaemia. In 2015, leukemia was reported as being present in over two million people worldwide and responsible for over 350,000 deaths. It is the most common type of cancer in children, with three quarters of leukemia cases in children being of the ALL type. However, about 90% of all leukemias are diagnosed in adults, with AML and CLL being most common in adults.

The current backbone therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for example, is the combination of daunorubicin and cytosine arabinoside, which are myelosuppressive and