Scientists in Melbourne hope that a new discovery about leukemia will prove to be a boon to many lives.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne researchers have been able to trace the cells which cause a strain of cancer called t-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This cancer mostly affects children and teenagers, however, adults too can get affected.

The discovery is hoped to trigger much more advanced treatment for cancer, says Dr. David Curtis. Every year this cancer leads to the death of at least 50 people in Australia.

He said, “At the moment, children often require two or even three years of therapy. If we can find better treatments to target those cells that seem to avoid the therapy, we would hope that we'd be able to give much less toxic treatments for a much shorter time and find better ways to treat the leukaemia so that it doesn't come back.”

The research team found that 99 percent in the thymus were killed by radiation during the therapy. Thymus is a small organ in the upper chest which protects against infections and therefore is significant in leukemia.