Three scientists win Shaw Prize for breakthrough in leukemia treatment

Three scientists, including a Chinese scholar, were awarded the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine for discovering the underlying cause of a deadly form of blood cancer.

Their work led to new treatment methods that turned one of the most fatal cancers acute promyelocytic leukemia, or APL into one of the most treatable, with a cure rate exceeding 90%.

Huang Hai, a bank security guard in his 40s from Jiangsu province, suffered from persistent heart issues.

Blood tests revealed abnormalities, leading to his referral to Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai.

He was later diagnosed with APL, a rare type of blood cancer.

Symptoms included bleeding, and patients risked fatal internal bleeding in various organs, including the brain.

The hematology team treating him was led by Professor Chen Zhu, one of this year's Shaw Prize laureates in Life Science and Medicine.

More than 40 years ago, patients diagnosed with APL often had a life expectancy of only a few days due to bleeding and severe infections.

Chen combined retinoic acid with arsenica substance traditionally viewed in Western medicine as a poison.

The combination transformed APL into one of the most curable cancers, raising the cure rate to more than 90%.

Around 50,000 to 60,000 patients worldwide were cured, remaining relapse-free for more than five years.

Chen attributed the breakthrough to mutual respect between Chinese and Western medicine.

CHEN ZHU,Shaw Laureate in Life Science and Medicine said "So I respected the TCM. So when people tell me, arsenic could work. I didn't have the attitude to see that things as nonsense, you know, oh, poison. My reaction was that, we have to look at it, we have to study that."

Finding a cure for this rare leukemia was also the result of international collaboration.

The two other Shaw Prize laureates in Life Science and Medicine, French molecular biologist Anne Dejean and cancer specialist Hugues de The successfully identified the genetic defects and therapeutic mechanisms behind APL.

The three winners will share a 1.2 million US dollar prize.

The award ceremony will take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on November 10.