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.

Multi-million dollar grants aim to advance hairy cell leukemia research

The Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation and Blood Cancer United®, formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, today announced six new research grants as part of their ongoing strategic partnership to better understand what drives hairy cell leukemia and find better therapies on the road to cures for this rare form of blood cancer.

24 Sep 2026

MIT researchers build cell collection device for early cancer detection

One of the main reasons that ovarian cancer is among the deadliest forms of cancer is timing: When doctors catch it early, the five-year survival rate can be north of 90 percent.

24 Sep 2026

Early treatment may improve outcomes in Shwachman-Diamond syndrome

More than 90% of children born with the rare bone marrow condition called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome (SDS) survive beyond age 20. But fewer than 30% live beyond age 50.

23 Sep 2026

NCI awards $3.46 million grant to study resistance to acute myeloid leukemia treatment

A five-year, $3.46 million grant from the National Cancer Institute recently was awarded to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

23 Sep 2026

Marine carbohydrates offer valuable new resources for drug development

The ocean contains diverse carbohydrates that could serve as valuable resources for drug development. Algae, marine animals and microorganisms produce polysaccharides and related molecules with structures that are uncommon on land, including distinctive sulfate patterns, sugar linkages and branched architectures.

22 Sep 2026

City of Hope develops adaptive plug-and-play CAR T technology to attack tumors

Researchers from City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the country, have developed a new "plug-and-play" technology that adds engineered molecules to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells after treatment, allowing scientists to better control the cells and redirect them to attack different types of cancer.

22 Sep 2026

EVITA clinical trial evaluates oral vitamin C for pre-cancerous blood disorders

Vitamin C boosts the activity of cellular proteins called TET enzymes that help control which genes are turned on or off.

21 Sep 2026

Daily vitamin C may benefit pre-cancerous blood disorder patients

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that supports immune function, promotes wound healing and protects cells from molecular damage.

21 Sep 2026

FDA clears trial of dual-targeted CAR T-cell therapy for cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week granted permission for investigators at the University of Colorado Anschutz to conduct a clinical trial testing genetically engineered immune cells in adults with advanced colorectal cancer and pediatric patients with solid cancers who have exhausted standard treatment options.

11 Sep 2026

New drug forces aggressive leukemia cells to die from stress

Pushing the accelerator and the brake at the same time is rarely a good idea. But researchers at the University of Gothenburg are using this approach to treat leukemia.

8 Sep 2026

Patients' responses to oncologists can help predict survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Patients' responses to questions routinely raised by oncologists may provide important clues about their chances of survival from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a new study published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Hematology.

7 Sep 2026

Tumor environments sculpt diverse natural killer cells for cancer therapies

For decades, natural killer (NK) cells have been classified into two main groups based on surface markers: one specialized for cytokine production and the other for direct killing.

4 Sep 2026

Newly diagnosed AML patients benefit from less-intensive combination treatment

Investigators from the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute have found that adults with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) receiving a less-intensive combination of azacitidine and venetoclax had more than twice as much time before treatment failed, the leukemia returned or worsened, or they died, compared with patients receiving intensive chemotherapy.

2 Sep 2026

$15 million trial aims to improve treatment decisions for older AML patients

A newly funded national clinical trial initiative will gather critical evidence to determine the best treatment strategies for older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive, fast-moving blood cancer that leaves a substantial proportion of older patients facing uncertainty about whether to proceed to stem cell transplantation or continue non-transplant therapy.

27 Aug 2026

Protein degrader shows strong activity against treatment-resistant blood cancers

A first-in-class therapy to target MYC, one of the most sought-after and difficult targets in cancer biology, showed promise in hard-to-treat blood cancers, according to a new preclinical study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published in Blood.

24 Aug 2026

Younger mismatched donors offer new hope for blood cancer patients

Blood cancer patients who cannot find a closely matched stem cell donor may have more transplant options than previously thought.

21 Aug 2026

New studies reveal hidden control hub for MYC-driven cancers

In a rare pair of papers published back-to-back in the journal Genes & Development, research teams led by senior author Anindya Bagchi, PhD, associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, establish a unified framework that governs one of cancer's most powerful master regulators.

19 Aug 2026

Aircrews face highest risk of radiation-related cancer deaths

Of more than 500 occupations in the United States, flight attendants and pilots have the highest and second-highest proportion of radiation-related cancer deaths, a new study has found.

17 Aug 2026

Researchers find unexpected protein regulator of leukemia drug sensitivity

How cells respond to the leukemia drug 6-thioguanine still holds surprises: A new study, led by researchers from CeMM and the University of Oxford identifies NUDT5 as an unexpected regulator of drug sensitivity and reveals that its role has nothing to do with its enzymatic activity.

12 Aug 2026

New study uncovers metabolic vulnerability in high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Cancer Center have identified a previously unknown metabolic weakness in the stem cells that drive high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a discovery that could lead to more targeted treatments for this aggressive blood cancer.

10 Aug 2026