St. Jude Employee Spotlight: Fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia with a samurai spirit

Fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with a samurai spirit. Hiroto Inaba, M.D., Ph.D., is an oncologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, principal investigator for the Total Therapy 17 clinical trial—and a 17th generation samurai.

Inaba represents the 17th generation of his branch of the Inaba lineage after Yoshimichi Inaba. He also leads the 17th iteration of the St. Jude Total Therapy protocol investigating treatments for ALL and lymphoma.

“Through the previous 16 Total Therapy trials, we’ve learned how individual children respond to leukemia medications in very different ways,” Inaba says. “To reduce toxicity and the risk of adverse effects, we select doses and medications tailored for each child. Total 17’s objective is to refine this selection process with precision medicine.”

ALL has a 94% survival rate, but oncologists want it to be 100%. “There’s a way to get there. We have many things to do,” Inaba says.

● Follow @stjuderesearch across social media to learn about St. Jude science and medicine.