Leukemia News and Research

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Leukemia (Leukaemia) is a cancer of the blood cells. It is the most common type of blood cancer and affects 10 times as many adults as children. Most people diagnosed with leukemia are over 50 years old. No one knows why some people develop leukemia and others do not. However, scientists have identified some risk factors for the disease. Most people who have known risk factors do not get leukemia, while many who do get the disease have none of these risk factors. During the early stages of leukemia, there may be no symptoms. Many of the symptoms of leukemia don't become apparent until a large number of normal blood cells are crowded out by leukemia cells.

High out-of-pocket costs may delay Medicare patients' access to novel targeted treatment for cancer

Significant out-of-pocket costs that cancer patients can face before Medicare insurance drug benefits kick in may delay the patients' treatment with a novel class of targeted therapies, according to a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led study.

4 Oct 2016

GUMC receives FDA clearance to begin clinical study of cancer drug in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Georgetown University Medical Center today announces the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has completed its review of an investigational new drug application (IND) for the use of nilotinib in a phase II clinical trial for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

30 Sep 2016

HPV vaccine can decrease incidence of cervical pre-cancers among young women, research shows

Every 20 minutes, someone in the United States receives a cancer diagnosis related to human papillomavirus. HPV causes cancer of the cervix, anus and throat.

29 Sep 2016

ADDF awards $2.1 million grant for clinical study of cancer drug in Alzheimer's patients

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation announces a $2.1 million grant awarded to R. Scott Turner, MD, PhD, of Georgetown University Medical Center to conduct a phase II clinical trial of low-dose nilotinib (marketed as Tasigna for use as a cancer therapy) in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

29 Sep 2016

T-Bear brings hope to kids diagnosed with cancer at Seattle Children's Hospital

He may not be able to fly, or be as fast as the speed of light, but for children who have been diagnosed with cancer at Seattle Children's, the cuddly teddy bear who wears a mask and purple cape is still a super hero to them - he gives them strength.

28 Sep 2016

New NCCN Guidelines outline diagnosis, treatment strategies for myeloproliferative neoplasms

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) are a group of blood cancers characterized by significant symptoms and a high risk of transformation into acute leukemia.

26 Sep 2016

Antibody drug offers new therapeutic approach for treating AML

An antibody drug that targets a surface marker on cancer stem cells could offer a promising new therapeutic approach for treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a form of blood cancer that affects an estimated 50,000 people in Saudi Arabia.

24 Sep 2016

Identical twins experience unimaginable cancer

Since the day they came home from the hospital in matching newborn monkey outfits, Zane and Zac Taylor have done everything together.

23 Sep 2016

Virginia Tech researchers identify novel compound that blocks growth of deadly fungus

Researchers with the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery have identified a compound that blocks the growth of a fungus that causes deadly lung infections and allergic reactions in people with compromised immune systems.

22 Sep 2016

Scientists discover genomic alterations in pediatric relapsed ALL

A group of researchers from Columbia University, Rutgers University, and institutions in Europe and Japan have identified genomic alterations in pediatric relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that cause both therapy resistance and improved clinical response to multi-agent chemotherapy treatment.

22 Sep 2016

Novel immunotherapy shows promise against AML in clinical trial

A new type of immunotherapy shows promise against cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that recur after treatment or that never respond to therapy in the first place.

21 Sep 2016

Sanford wins $11.7 million NIH grant to translate laboratory cancer research into clinical trials

The Cancer Biology Research Center at Sanford Research is the recipient of a five-year, nearly $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to translate laboratory research into clinical trials for head and neck and pediatric cancers.

20 Sep 2016

Researchers underscore importance of immune-based prevention to conquer cancer

In a Perspective piece published this week in PNAS, cancer researchers from across the country, including faculty at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, write that a greater emphasis on immune-based prevention should be central to new efforts like the federal Cancer Moonshot program, headed by Vice President Joe Biden.

19 Sep 2016

HMS scientists reveal how certain tumors develop taste for fat

Cancers are such notorious sugar addicts that PET scans searching for the disease light up when they detect sugar-gobbling tumor cells.

15 Sep 2016

Researchers uncover new molecular causes of brain cancer and leukemia

A joint research published today in Nature Communications has shown new molecular causes of brain cancer and leukemia.

14 Sep 2016

Adolescent females have low rates of pregnancy screening prior to cancer treatment

A new study indicates that adolescent females with acute leukemia have low rates of pregnancy screening prior to receiving chemotherapy that can cause birth defects.

13 Sep 2016

SLUCare cancer doctor offers advice to manage anxiety after cancer diagnosis

The first few days after a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming. At the very moment when you must make key decisions about your treatment and care, your brain may feel overloaded processing the distressing news you've just received.

13 Sep 2016

Penn researchers develop open-source software to infer evolutionary track of tumor metastasis

Individual cells within a tumor are not all the same. This may sound like a modern medical truism, but it wasn't very long ago that oncologists assumed that taking a single biopsy from a patient's tumor would be an accurate reflection of the physiological and genetic make-up of the entire mass.

9 Sep 2016

Right dose of CAR T cells and lymphodepletion can achieve good response rates for NHL patients

In a paper published today in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shared data from an early-phase study of patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who received JCAR014, a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell treatment, and chemotherapy.