While most leukemia patients initially respond well to chemotherapy, >60% die because the disease returns as a result of the survival of leukaemia cells following treatment. We have identified a new protein, osteopontin (OPN), that may allow the survival of leukaemia cells and therefore reduce the ability of chemotherapy to erradicate disease. We seek to examine the role of OPN in leukemia with a view toward developing targetted therapies in the future.