With close ties to Loma Linda University, Elf Zone, Inc, is organized around development of a promising new treatment for the deadliest form of childhood cancer, a subtype of acute lymphoblastic leukemia known as B-ALL. The discovery came unexpectedly when data being generated in project underway revealed the opposite of what they were expecting to find in a study of the effect of adding a cytokine growth factor, TSLP, to a B-ALL subtype that produces too many TSLP receptors. Immature white blood cells, including leukemia cells, rely on the growth factor to proliferate. The expectation was that the leukemia would be spreading faster as a result of the increased dosage of TSLP but the first experiment showed the leukemia had almost disappeared. Four subsequent experiments confirmed the same finding: feeding B-ALL cells too much TSLP caused them to die instead of thrive, also allowing healthy white blood cells to take their place. Despite their skepticism, with such promising data Elf Zone was formed to bring the unexpected therapy to market if further testing, including clinical trials, proves as successful as her initial studies. Many assume that science has already cured B-ALL because about 80 percent of children who get it are curedbut when this leukemia relapses - as has been thecase for 30 years - half of the kids die.
