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.

Advanced gene sequencing test helps clinicians treat cancer

The University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) partnered to launch UW-OncoPlex - an advanced gene sequencing test to help clinicians treat cancer. The new diagnostic tool is a significant milestone in the development of precision medicine and empowers doctors to predict which treatment therapies will be most effective for an individual patient's cancer.

14 Mar 2013

Scientists to create new human monoclonal antibody targeting protein associated with cancer

Researchers have discovered a unique monoclonal antibody that can effectively reach inside a cancer cell, a key goal for these important anticancer agents, since most proteins that cause cancer or are associated with cancer are buried inside cancer cells.

14 Mar 2013

Targeting Mer receptors sensitize AML and ALL to chemotherapies

Two University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in many leukemias, and that inhibition of this Mer receptor results in the death of leukemia cells - without affecting surrounding, healthy cells.

12 Mar 2013

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital receives donation from Warren Sulmasy

Having experienced a death of a child in his family due to leukemia, Warren Sulmasy made a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in February 2013.

7 Mar 2013

CALHM1 protein controls sense of taste, finds study

In collaboration with other research institutions, a Feinstein Institute for Medical Research investigator discovered a new protein that controls the sense of taste. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature.

7 Mar 2013

Fukushima report sheds light on future health risks

A detailed report carried out by the World Health Organization estimates that the risk to the general public inside and outside Japan from the Fukushima nuclear accident is minimal with no anticipated increases in cancer rates.

6 Mar 2013

Media examine reaction to, potential implications of 'functional cure' of infant born with HIV

"The remarkable case of a baby being cured of HIV infection in the United States using readily available drugs has raised new hope for eradicating the infection in infants worldwide, but scientists say it will take a lot more research and much more sensitive diagnostics before this hope becomes a reality," Reuters reports.

6 Mar 2013

Stem cell transplantation could be delayed in acute myeloid leukemia

Stem cell transplantation could be delayed until a relapse occurs, without affecting overall survival, in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia, UK researchers report.

5 Mar 2013

Anti-metabolic syndrome efforts needed for young ALL survivors

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are at risk for developing the metabolic syndrome during maintenance therapy, suggest study findings.

5 Mar 2013

Results from Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 Phase 3 study on HIV

Pfizer Inc. presented today the results from a Phase 3 study demonstrating the immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine Diphtheria CRM197 Protein)in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

5 Mar 2013

Study finds how to shut down Bcl6 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

The powerful master regulatory transcription factor called Bcl6 is key to the survival of a majority of aggressive lymphomas, which arise from the B-cells of the immune system. The protein has long been considered too complex to target with a drug since it is also crucial to the healthy functioning of many immune cells in the body, not just B cells gone bad.

4 Mar 2013

Chroma Therapeutics, CTI announce results from tosedostat Phase 2 study on AML

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) and Chroma Therapeutics Ltd. announced today that Lancet Oncology has published results from the OPAL Phase 2 study of tosedostat in elderly patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

4 Mar 2013

Prompt antiretroviral therapy may help infants clear the HIV and achieve long-term remission

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School describe the first case of a so-called "functional cure" in an HIV-infected infant. The finding, the investigators say, may help pave the way to eliminating HIV infection in children.

4 Mar 2013

Global inhibition of all Notch signals would not be safe after bone marrow transplantation

Bone marrow transplant is a key treatment for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other blood disorders. University of Michigan researchers have discovered that inhibiting a signaling pathway in some of the transplanted cells could prevent the most serious potential complications of the procedure, a conflict between the transplanted cells and the recipient's own tissue called graft-versus-host disease.

2 Mar 2013

PDL BioPharma fourth quarter total revenues increase to $86.0 million

PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDL) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2012.

2 Mar 2013

Two antagonistic proteins help keep leukemia at bay

Two proteins that scientists once thought carried out the same functions are actually antagonists of each other, and keeping them in balance is key to preventing diseases such as cancer, according to new findings published in the February 25 issue of Developmental Cell by scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

27 Feb 2013

Promyleocytic leukemia gene goes up significantly in post treatment of mTOR inhibitors

Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain tumor in adults, is challenging to treat because the tumors rapidly become resistant to therapy. As cancer researchers are learning more about the causes of tumor cell growth and drug resistance, they are discovering molecular pathways that might lead to new targeted therapies to potentially treat this deadly cancer.

27 Feb 2013

Genetic variation in CD33 influences how AML patients' leukemic cell responds to GO

Researchers from the College of Pharmacy and Medical School working within the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, have partnered to identify genetic variations that may help signal which acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients will benefit or not benefit from one of the newest antileukemic agents.

26 Feb 2013

Early lymphoid progenitors thrive in an osteoblastic niche: Study

The Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern has deepened the understanding of the environment within bone marrow that nurtures stem cells, this time identifying the biological setting for specialized blood-forming cells that produce the infection-fighting white blood cells known as T cells and B cells.

25 Feb 2013

Distinct bone marrow niches can nurture different types of blood stem cells

In research that could one day improve the success of stem cell transplants and chemotherapy, scientists have found that distinct niches exist in bone marrow to nurture different types of blood stem cells.

25 Feb 2013