Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia News and Research

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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. There are two main types of white blood cells-lymphoid cells and myeloid cells. ALL affects lymphoid cells.

Historic study involving Simmons Cancer Center shows effectiveness of CAR-T therapy

A historic study involving researchers from UT Southwestern's Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center demonstrates the effectiveness of CAR-T therapy, which uses genetically modified immune cells to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and young adults. The research appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Feb 2018

Newly identified germline variations increase risk of relapse or second cancers in leukemia patients

Newly identified germline variations in a key tumor suppressor gene predispose individuals to develop leukemia as children and leave them with a 1-in-4 chance of developing a second cancer later. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the study, which appears today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

5 Jan 2018

Clinical benefit of new cancer therapies may justify the expensive price

Researchers from the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, selected to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the newly approved CAR-T therapies, have found the clinical benefit may justify the expensive price.

20 Dec 2017

CAR T cell therapy shows long-lasting remissions in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients

In a pair of clinical trials stretching from Philadelphia to Tokyo, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy Kymriah (formerly known as CTL019) demonstrated long-lasting remissions in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients.

11 Dec 2017

Clinical study uses genetic testing to match AML patients with new therapies

A clinical trial using genetic testing to match acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with new therapies is now open at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center

6 Dec 2017

Australian researchers develop new risk scoring system to predict childhood leukemia relapse

Australian researchers have developed a new risk scoring system for children with leukemia based on missing DNA fragments or 'microdeletions'.

1 Dec 2017

UNC Lineberger professor receives The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society grant for immunotherapy research

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher Barbara Savoldo, MD, PhD, was awarded a $600,000, three-year grant from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to support research into an immunotherapy treatment being developed with a "safety switch" to safeguard against potential side effects of the treatment.

21 Nov 2017

CHLA receives more than $1 million from St. Baldrick's Foundation for cancer research

Three physician-researchers with the Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have been awarded more than $1 million in grants from the St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research.

14 Nov 2017

Russian scientists uncover previously unknown effect of leukemia drug

Researchers from RUDN University and Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences have identified an alternative mechanism for the effective antitumor drug -- an enzyme called L-asparaginase.

10 Nov 2017

Adipocytes may reduce effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drug

Adipocytes, or fat cells, can absorb and metabolize the chemotherapeutic agent daunorubicin, reducing the effectiveness of the drug and potentially contributing to poorer treatment outcomes.

8 Nov 2017

VICC selected to administer FDA-approved CAR T therapy for treatment of lymphoma patients

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center has been selected as one of the few authorized treatment centers in the United States approved to administer the first FDA- approved chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy for treatment of adult patients with a specific type of lymphoma.

25 Oct 2017

Researchers develop new way to genetically engineer T cells for treating leukemia relapse

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington have developed a novel way to genetically engineer T cells that may be effective for treating and preventing leukemia relapse.

25 Oct 2017

Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women's Cancer Center certified to offer new CAR T-cell therapy

Following a successful clinical trial involving Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for adult cancers was approved by the Food and Drug Administration today.

20 Oct 2017

New CAR-T cell therapy offers effective option for certain blood cancer patients

Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is one of the first centers nationwide to offer a new immunotherapy that targets certain blood cancers.

19 Oct 2017

Cascade of costs could push new gene therapy above $1 million per patient

Outrage over the high cost of cancer care has focused on skyrocketing drug prices, including the $475,000 price tag for the country's first gene therapy, Novartis' Kymriah, a leukemia treatment approved in August.

17 Oct 2017

Study provides detailed characterization of neurotoxicity arising from CD19 CAR T-cell therapy

New potential biomarkers and a novel algorithm could help identify patients at increased risk of suffering from severe neurotoxicity after receiving CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. The study extensively characterized common and occasionally fatal side effects of this immunotherapy.

12 Oct 2017

BU professor receives $792,000 grant to study about aggressiveness of T-ALL

Hui Feng, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, is the recipient of a four-year, $792,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to study why T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is so aggressive and resistant to treatment.

10 Oct 2017

Researchers identify new cancer-causing pathway behind most aggressive type of leukemia

A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has identified a new cancer-causing pathway behind most cases of an aggressive type of leukemia, findings that could lead to new targeted treatment approaches.

3 Oct 2017

New gene therapy to treat cancer in children, young adults offers hopes and challenges

The first gene therapy for cancer, approved by the Food Drug Administration in August, will transform the treatment of a particular kind of cancer in children and young adults. It's transformative because it uses a patient's own immune cells to attack the cancer cells.