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.

Chemotherapy combined with anti-cancer agent shows promise for treatment of aggressive breast cancers

Some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer are more vulnerable to chemotherapy when it is combined with a new class of anti-cancer agent, researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have shown.

20 Jul 2011

Two key genes may help prevent childhood leukemia

Researchers at The University of Western Ontario have identified genes that may be important for preventing childhood leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the blood that occurs primarily in young children.

19 Jul 2011

Johnson & Johnson second quarter sales increase 8.3% to $16.6 billion

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $16.6 billion for the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 8.3% as compared to the second quarter of 2010.

19 Jul 2011

Anti-malaria drug provides key insight into potential treatments for autoimmune diseases

In a study published recently in the journal Science Signaling Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists demonstrate on the molecular level how the anti-malaria drug chloroquine represses inflammation, which may provide a blueprint for new strategies for treating inflammation and a multitude of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and certain cancers.

19 Jul 2011

Coal seam gas and cancer risk: Report

An Australian Senate committee has been looking into the impact of coal seam gas (CSG) mining on the Murray-Darling Basin that has moved to Dalby on Queensland's western Darling Downs today. The Senate Standing Committee on Rural Affairs and Transport is touring southern Queensland examining the environmental consequences of CSG mining on the Murray-Darling River system.

19 Jul 2011

LLS awards new SCOR grants valued at $12.5M for research in lymphoma and myeloproliferative neoplasms

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) today announced it has awarded two new Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grants to Frederick W. Alt, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, and Anthony Green, M.D., Ph.D., University of Cambridge. Each SCOR is valued at $1.25 million a year for five years for a total of $6.25 million.

18 Jul 2011

Study: IL-2 monotherapy not effective as maintenance therapy for acute myeloid leukemia

EpiCept Corporation announced today the publication of a new meta-analysis which concluded that interleukin-2 (IL-2) monotherapy is not effective as a maintenance therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in first complete remission. These results were published in the July 7, 2011 edition of Blood, a leading scientific journal in hematology.

18 Jul 2011

Study: Bone marrow transplant offers new hope for patients with high-risk leukemia

Bone marrow transplant survival more than doubled in recent years for young, high-risk leukemia patients treated at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with patients who lacked genetically matched donors recording the most significant gains. The results are believed to be the best ever reported for leukemia patients who underwent bone marrow transplantation.

15 Jul 2011

Seattle Children's inaugurates new center for cancer research

Today, Seattle Children's Research Institute announced the opening of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research.

15 Jul 2011

BioMarin commences BMN 673 Phase 1 trial in hematological malignancies

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase 1 trial for BMN 673, a poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with advanced hematological malignancies.

15 Jul 2011

DVS Sciences completes $14.6M series A financing

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and DVS Sciences Inc., today announced that DVS Sciences has completed a $14.6 million series A financing.

14 Jul 2011

Positive data from Inovio's VGX-3400X Phase I study against H5N1 influenza

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that significant T cell and antibody responses were generated in its Phase I clinical study of VGX-3400X, a SynCon DNA vaccine for the prevention of avian H5N1 influenza delivered using intramuscular (IM) electroporation.

14 Jul 2011

Eisai's DACOGEN sNDA for acute myeloid leukemia accepted by FDA for review

SuperGen, Inc., a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel cancer therapies, announced that Eisai Inc. today released information that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) seeking approval of DACOGEN (decitabine) for injection in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

14 Jul 2011

FDA accepts Eisai's DACOGEN sNDA for review to treat acute myeloid leukemia

Eisai Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) seeking approval of DACOGEN (decitabine) for injection in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

13 Jul 2011

Indirubin might help treat glioblastoma

The active ingredient in a traditional Chinese herbal remedy might help treat deadly brain tumors, according to a new study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

13 Jul 2011

Study: No evidence of increased risk of leukaemia near nuclear power plants

A large nationwide longitudinal study found no evidence of an increased risk of cancer in children born near nuclear power plants in Switzerland.

13 Jul 2011

Men more likely to succumb to cancer

According to a new analysis of 36 different types of tumors and blood cancers that affect both sexes, men are more likely than women to get and die of cancer. The report shows that leukemia and cancers of the colon and rectum, pancreas, and liver killed about one and a half to two times as many men as women in the U.S. over a 30-year period. Lung cancer killed nearly two and a half times as many men during that time. According to the American Cancer Society men have about a 1 in 2 chance of developing cancer at some point in their lives, compared with women, who have a 1 in 3 chance.

13 Jul 2011

Affymetrix commences shipment of gene profiling reagents

Affymetrix, Inc. today began shipping its FDA-cleared Gene Profiling Reagents. Affymetrix also announced the availability of the new Gene Profiling Array cGMP U133 P2, a version of the widely cited Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array, as another component to its GeneChip Instrument System, which is used by Affymetrix partners for assay development.

12 Jul 2011

Two studies on childhood leukemia

A difficult-to-treat form of childhood leukemia relies on changes in the structure of DNA - so-called epigenetic changes - to wreak genomic havoc within white blood cells, according to one of two studies conducted by a research team at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

12 Jul 2011

Hutchinson Center receives $20M NIH grant to eradicate HIV infection

Whether a stem cell transplant using an HIV-infected person's own genetically modified immune cells can become a cure for the disease is the focus of a new $20 million, five-year research grant award announced today by the National Institutes of Health to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

12 Jul 2011