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.

MPD Foundation funds research for incurable blood disorders

The Myeloproliferative Disorders Foundation has awarded $750,000 to establish the MPD Research Alliance, a collaboration of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic to accelerate drug development for incurable, progressive bone marrow disorders.

11 Apr 2006

Discovery of virus implicated in genetics of prostate cancer

The Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens has published an article detailing research that identifies a new retrovirus in the tissue of human prostate tumors.

10 Apr 2006

Discovery of new human retrovirus

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues have discovered a new retrovirus in humans that is closely related to a cancer-causing virus found in mice. Their findings describe the first documented cases of human infection with a retrovirus that is native to rodents.

10 Apr 2006

Drug trial disaster will discourage future volunteers

According to the British government agency responsible for medical safety, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), no evidence has been found to suggest there were any problems with the manufacturing of a drug which left six volunteers seriously ill.

6 Apr 2006

Cancer virus protein p13 needed for successful infection and reproduction

New research shows that a protein made by a cancer-causing virus that was thought to be unimportant for its replication is in fact critically needed by the virus to initiate an infection and to reproduce.

4 Apr 2006

Skin cancer facts

Up to two-thirds of all cancers may be prevented through dietary and lifestyle changes. In the case of skin cancer, this could not be more true.

4 Apr 2006

Life or death can depend on teenage cancer patients taking their treatments properly

Teenagers and young adults with cancer need to understand the implications of not taking their treatments regularly, at the right time, and for the whole course. Those who don't are seriously compromising their future health - and for some it will be the difference between life and death.

4 Apr 2006

Cancer chemical scare over soft drinks

Tens of thousands of bottles of soft drinks were removed from shop shelves yesterday after concerns that they could contain a potentially cancer-causing chemical.

3 Apr 2006

St. Jude develop relatively simple and inexpensive test for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have developed a relatively simple and inexpensive test that identifies children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have responded well enough to their first round of chemotherapy that they might be successfully treated with a much less aggressive follow-up treatment.

3 Apr 2006

Weill Cornell researchers identify tumor-suppressor gene important to diffuse large B-cell lymphomas

Inactivation of a "tumor suppressor" gene could be a major cause of a class of blood cancers called diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, reports a team of researchers at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

30 Mar 2006

Novel therapy for chronic graft-versus-host disease

A study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers offers the strongest evidence yet of the effectiveness of a novel therapy for chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a potentially life-threatening complication of donor bone marrow and stem cell transplants.

28 Mar 2006

Novel therapy for chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) using Rituximab

Dana-Farber researchers found that rituximab reduced the severity of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in 70 percent of the study participants.

27 Mar 2006

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals receives U.S. orphan drug designation for Ceflatonin

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals has announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug status for the company's most advanced drug, Ceflatonin, for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

21 Mar 2006

Scientists identify microRNAs that appear to play a role in the development of platelets

Scientists have identified a handful of microRNAs (miRNAs) that appear to play a significant role in the development of platelets - blood cells critical to the body's ability to form clots following an injury.

21 Mar 2006

Drug trial nightmare - two still critically ill

In the drug trial nightmare which has left six men very ill in a London Hospital two remain in intensive care and are not expected to make any early improvement, according to their doctor Ganesh Suntharalingham, Northwick Park Hospital's Clinical Director of Intensive Care.

17 Mar 2006