The Department of Haematological Medicine at King's College Hospital has a long history of leukaemia research under the leadership of Professor G Mufti. Based in the Rayne Institute, the Leukaemia Science laboratories are designed to unite physicians, healthcare scientists and academics to create a comprehensive approach to the study of blood cancers.

This strategy is exemplified by the Enabling Technologies translational research group, which harnesses leading-edge research techniques made possible by the human genome mapping project. A core objective of the group is to test the clinical validity and utility of current research activity, in order to improve diagnostic accuracy for the benefit of patients today and with the hope of better understanding the pathogenesis of these diseases in the future. The group has state of the art facilities for cytogenetics, FISH, laser dissection microscopy, transcription profiling, proteomics, as well as SNP and tilling array-based analysis of loss of heterozygosity.

A specific focus of these studies is the molecular basis of disease heterogeneity in myeloid malignancies, in particular the myelodysplastic syndromes. The group also maintains the National Leukaemia Cell Bank and the only Myelodysplastic Disease Syndrome repository.

Three further major strands in the department's translational research portfolio are:
1) A gene-therapy trial which is bringing together academic molecular biologists with medical staff to create the world's first gene-therapy for leukaemia involving the modification of two genes.
2) Dedicated Stem Cell Research laboratories with academic professorial leadership.
3) A registered Tissue Bank with Human Tissue Authority licence.

To fully realise the power of these new technologies and treatments for rapid patient benefit, it is critically important to maximise the acquisition of data and harness the information for correlation between diagnostic, clinical, epidemiological and research areas.

The established networks and units with Key Worker Clinical Nurse Specialists are now in an optimum position to collect relevant clinical data which can be linked to the primary diagnostic data sets through a unique IOG number.

New diagnostic technologies require the same approach of research, development and evaluation before entry into routine service as clinical/pharmaceutical trials undergo already.

The map below demonstrates the incidence of all haematological malignancies forecast from HMRN data(4). Although incidence studies are useful, prevalence studies better reflect the disease burden of a population and will become more important as successful treatments prolong survival.

In contrast, the incidence for Hodgkin Lymphoma is strikingly different. These differences suggest population or environmental variables that merit investigation (see map below). Only with such data can environmental factors be detected and prevention instituted. In addition, linked diagnostic and clinical databases can collect complex clinical and prognostic data on a large scale for validated statistical modelling.