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.

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's joins immunotherapy clinical trial for children with ALL

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center has joined a clinical trial of immunotherapy for children with relapsed or treatment-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the trial is one of several nationally that are evaluating cancer immunotherapy, a treatment approach -- hailed by Science magazine as their Breakthrough of the Year in 2013 -- that triggers a patient's immune system to attack his or her cancer cells.

11 May 2015

T cell expansion technology: an interview with Alexander Malykhin, CVPF, University of Pennsylvania

T cells are taken from the patient’s blood and then modified using lentivirus, adenovirus or RNA electroporation.

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Flow Cytometry 5 May 2015

Researchers identify mechanism responsible for steroid resistance in leukemia patients

Researchers led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a mechanism that helps leukemia cells resist glucocorticoids, a finding that lays the foundation for more effective treatment of cancer and possibly a host of autoimmune diseases.

5 May 2015

Penn professor to be recognized with AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology

The American Association for Cancer Research and the Cancer Research Institute will recognize Carl H. June, MD, the Richard W. Vague professor in immunotherapy at the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, with the third annual AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, to be held in Philadelphia, April 18-22.

20 Apr 2015

Radiation resistance in leukemia can be overcome by using new precision medicine, say researchers

A team of researchers led by Fatih M. Uckun, MD, PhD, of The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine has determined that radiation resistance in leukemia can be overcome by using an engineered protein they recently designed and developed as a new precision medicine against leukemia.

27 Mar 2015

MRD-directed therapy helps boost survival of young leukemia patients

Measuring the concentration of leukemia cells in patient bone marrow during the first 46 days of chemotherapy should help boost survival of young leukemia patients by better matching patients with the right intensity of chemotherapy. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators led the research, which appears in the March 20 edition of the journal Lancet Oncology.

22 Mar 2015

Scientists discover how ALL cells mutate to survive chemotherapy

By genomic sequencing of leukemia cells from relapsed patients at different stages, scientists have discovered key details of how acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells mutate to survive chemotherapy. These mutations enable the cells to proliferate, causing relapse and often death.

20 Mar 2015

New immunotoxin found to be safe, effective in patients with B-cell malignancies

Almost all patients with a group of blood cancers called B-cell malignancies have two prominent "fingerprints" on the surface of leukemia and lymphoma cancers, called CD22 and CD19, Vallera explained.

13 Mar 2015

Penn researcher named a recipient of 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

University of Pennsylvania cancer and HIV expert Carl June, MD, has been named one of two recipients of the 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for his outstanding work in cancer immunotherapy. Since 1952, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize has been awarded to scientists who have made great advancements in the fields in which Paul Ehrlich worked, in particular immunology, cancer research, microbiology, and chemotherapy.

12 Mar 2015

Rare, aggressive subtype of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia has surprisingly few mutations

The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital--Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project reports that a highly aggressive form of leukemia in infants has surprisingly few mutations beyond the chromosomal rearrangement that affects the MLL gene. The findings suggest that targeting the alteration is likely the key to improved survival.

9 Mar 2015

Study: Gene variant linked to increased risk of vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in children

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who had a certain gene variant experienced a higher incidence and severity of peripheral neuropathy after receiving treatment with the cancer drug vincristine, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.

25 Feb 2015

Researchers identify first genetic variation linked to increased risk of peripheral neuropathy

Researchers have identified the first genetic variation that is associated with increased risk and severity of peripheral neuropathy following treatment with a widely used anti-cancer drug. Investigators also found evidence of how it may be possible to protect young leukemia patients without jeopardizing cures.

24 Feb 2015

New NCCN Guidelines for treating Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

According to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), the treatment approach to ALL is one of the most complex and intensive programs in cancer therapy.

24 Feb 2015

MD Anderson awarded more than $22 million in research grants from CPRIT

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has received more than $22 million in research grants this week from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Approximately half of the funds awarded for Individual Investigator Research Awards went to MD Anderson faculty as well as 40 percent of total IIRA awards that include those for children's and adolescent cancer and early detection and prevention.

21 Feb 2015

Study results pave way for new clinical trial for glioblastoma patients

Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer were found to be both safe and effective at controlling tumor growth in mice that were treated with these modified cells, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

19 Feb 2015

Adult survivors of childhood cancer at risk for pituitary hormone deficiencies

Decades after undergoing cranial irradiation for childhood cancer, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators found that adult survivors of pediatric cancer remain at risk for pituitary hormone deficiencies that may diminish their health and quality of life.

16 Feb 2015

Researchers identify axitinib as promising candidate to treat drug-resistant leukaemia

A study led by researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM and Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Central Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, in close collaboration with researchers at Pfizer, has identified a previously unrecognized action of Pfizer's axitinib as a potent inhibitor of the dominant mutation that confers drug resistance to all well tolerated treatments in patients with certain types of leukemia.

10 Feb 2015

Drug similar to Gleevec may help tame some brain cancers

The drug Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) is well known not only for its effectiveness against chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but also for the story behinds its development. The drug was specifically designed to target an abnormal molecule--a fusion of two normal cell proteins--that fueled a tumor's growth.

10 Feb 2015

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia invited to Obama's announcement of Precision Medicine Initiative

At the invitation of the White House, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) sent two special guests to President Barack Obama's announcement today of the Precision Medicine Initiative: Dr. Steven M. Altschuler, CHOP's chief executive officer, and 9-year-old patient Emily Whitehead, now cancer-free thanks to a personalized treatment called T cell therapy, developed at CHOP.

2 Feb 2015

Study identifies genetic basis of drug toxicity in leukemia patients of East Asian ancestry

January 26, 2015) About 10 percent of young leukemia patients of East Asian ancestry inherit a gene variation that is associated with reduced tolerance of a drug that is indispensable for curing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer.