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.

Long-term outcomes studied for stem cell transplant recipients

Improved techniques and supportive care have resulted in a growing number of long-term survivors of stem cell transplants, though little is known about the impact transplants have on patients’ lives long after treatment.

23 May 2005

Novel way of administering an anti-cancer drug to bone-marrow transplant patients using continuous infusion

The new method achieves more predictable, stable drug levels in patients than the current method and could eventually allow doctors to more accurately adjust doses to accommodate individual differences in metabolism, thus increasing treatment effectiveness while avoiding side effects, said University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

20 May 2005

Study holds implications for gene therapy and stem cell biology

The study, conducted by scientists from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Hannover Medical School and Hamburg University in Germany, reveals important evidence that tells us more about how blood forming stem cells regenerate. On the other hand, scientists offer caution in regards to the side effects associated with genetic engineering of stem cells.

20 May 2005

Lower doses of chemo just as effective in childhood cancers

In the latest research into treating a common childhood cancer, paediatric oncologist Allen Chauvenet, is optimistic that the long-term side effects that survivors experience as they grow into adulthood can be reduced.

17 May 2005

More health benefits from green tea

Green tea appears to protect against cancer by affecting a "promiscuous" protein that pharmaceutical experts are already targeting in an effort to develop a new drug to stop the disease, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found.

16 May 2005

Colon cancer patients who took aspirin regularly fared better after surgery

Colon cancer patients who took aspirin regularly fared better after surgery, reducing their risk of disease recurrence and death by half compared to non-users, researchers will report at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

16 May 2005

Research findings help predict risk of blood clots in women receiving tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer

New research findings may help physicians determine which women have an increased risk of blood clots when taking tamoxifen for the management of breast cancer, a team led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators will report at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting.

15 May 2005

New predictor for blood transplant success

The success of blood stem cell transplants used to treat diseases such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and aplastic anemia may soon become more predictable, thanks to a discovery made by researchers at the University of British Columbia.

11 May 2005

Scientists inhibit tumor formation

By studying mice with skin cancer, researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah discovered a way to inhibit a mutant gene found in up to 30 percent of human tumors.

9 May 2005

New drug may help treat certain forms of leukemia

A new experimental drug may be effective against a certain form of leukemia resistant to current treatments, research at UT Southwestern Medical Center shows.

2 May 2005

Giving children access to drug clinical trials is crucial, clofarabine approval shows

The accelerated approval of the drug clofarabine to treat relapsed or refractory pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) demonstrates the importance of offering children rapid access to new treatments through clinical trials, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Refractory or relapsed ALL is a disease that resists treatment.

2 May 2005

New prognostic markers help identify risk of relapse

A recently completed clinical study has found new prognostic markers that may help clinicians identify those children with leukaemia who are at high risk of relapse and are most in need of intensified treatment to improve their chance of survival.

1 May 2005

Children treated for soft tissue sarcomas at greater risk of second cancers

A new study has found that although children treated for soft tissue sarcomas are surviving longer than they did in the past, they have an increased risk for second cancers, especially when initial treatment combined radiation and chemotherapy. This is according to analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute.

27 Apr 2005

Australian clinical trial of potent new anticancer drug (CYT997)

Up to 30 patients with advanced incurable solid-tumours are to be involved in clinical trials of a potent new anticancer drug (CYT997), developed by Australian biotechnology company, Cytopia Limited.

27 Apr 2005

National clinical trial examines new option for kidney cancer patients

The trial, which opened last September, offers research subjects who qualify a new, targeted therapy in addition to standard immune therapy. The drug combination is being studied in a national Phase II clinical trial led by OHSU Cancer Institute researcher Christopher Ryan, M.D., through the Southwest Oncology Group, one of the largest clinical trial cooperative groups in the United States.

27 Apr 2005

Herceptin in combination with chemotherapy reduces risk of breast cancer recurrence in women with with early-stage breast cancer

Results from two clinical trials show that patients with early-stage breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin) in combination with chemotherapy had a 52 percent decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence, compared with patients who received the same chemotherapy without the drug. The difference is statistically highly significant.

26 Apr 2005

P12 protein influences key cell-signaling pathway

New research shows that a protein produced by a cancer-causing virus influences a key signaling pathway in the immune cells that the virus infects. This stimulates the cells to divide, helping the virus spread through the body.

26 Apr 2005

High risk of second cancers in survivors of childhood soft tissue sarcomas

Children treated for soft tissue sarcomas have a significantly higher risk of developing subsequent cancers later in life, according to a new study. The study appears in the June 1, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, and indicates children treated with combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy, in particular, had greater risks of developing a new malignancy.

25 Apr 2005

Pattern of gene expression predicts multiple drug resistance, treatment failure in pediatric leukemia

The discovery of a specific pattern of gene expression linked to multiple-drug resistance of leukemic cells is giving researchers crucial information into why standard therapies fail to cure some children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This finding, from investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, could lead to development of drugs that would overcome that resistance.

24 Apr 2005

Increasing benefit seen in novel drug AMN107, that treats Gleevec resistance

An investigational drug is producing powerful responses in patients resistant to Gleevec, the targeted therapy that helps most people diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), an international research team headed by investigators at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is reporting.

23 Apr 2005