There have been many visits to the doors of Haukeland University Hospital for Helge Hansen (70) in the past year. In January 2023, he was diagnosed with the blood cancer acute myelogenous leukemia. The forecasts were not good. Like most people who get this diagnosis, he was put on chemotherapy. He interpreted it badly. – I got a blood clot, pneumonia and a fever. Once I couldn’t manage for myself, says Hansen. He says the treatment took all the strength he had. But there may be other ways out of the disease than the one Hansen and most others with his form of cancer are seen as today. Will save patients the heaviest treatment In the laboratory building at the hospital, they are working to be able to offer more accurate treatment. news has previously reported on the research, which can quickly provide an answer to whether milder treatments can work for individual patients. Researcher Benedicte Sjo Tislevoll worked with personal diagnosis when the research was presented last year. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news A center is now being set up which will work to ensure that more people are offered customized treatment. In addition to funding from the University of Bergen, the KG Jebsen foundation contributed NOK 21 million. – Our aim with this center is to push forward a new type of diagnostics for cancer patients. A diagnosis with greater precision, says Bjørn Tore Gjertsen. He is a cancer researcher and professor at UiB. – We will let the individual cells give us an answer to which treatment they respond to. Then I can save a lot of money on the heaviest treatment. Older patients in particular often struggle with side effects from, for example, chemotherapy. Malaria medicine against blood cancer But what is the alternative to chemotherapy? There are several well-known drugs that researchers can measure the effect of on patients’ cancer cells. In addition, they work to test out new, both newly developed medicines and known preparations. – Among other things, we are testing a malaria medicine and an epilepsy medicine. Both show promising results, says Gjertsen. Bjørn Tore Gjertsen, professor of blood cancer. Photo: Benjamin Dyrdal / news Initially, the researchers at the center work against myelogenous leukaemia. They believe the work has direct transfer value to several forms of cancer, such as prostate cancer and lung cancer. – But our type of diagnostics is transferable to all types of cancer. The next step for the center will be to work to make it common, says the professor. Gjertsen believes the new center will be able to be a gathering place for the world’s leading researchers in the field. Treatment without side effects For Helge Hansen, things turned around when he received a personal diagnosis through the research project in May 2023. Then he was offered various medicines, which he especially adapted. Among other things, he was given a tablet which was only later approved as a treatment method. He was then able to get a transplant with stem cells and bone marrow in November. The control at Haukeland today is positive. Treatment has brought the disease under control. The cancer cells in the blood are about to disappear. – I haven’t had any side effects. It has meant everything to me to be part of this, says the Bergen native. The doctors think he is a good example of what they are trying to achieve at the new KG Jebsen centre. Still, many medicines that can have an effect are particularly expensive, or lack the necessary testing. But perhaps a center in Bergen will be central to a shift in how many forms of cancer are treated. The new center will be located here in the Laboratory Building in Haukeland. Photo: Ingrid Losnegaard / news
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– Has meant everything – news Vestland
