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.

miR 155 overexpression can lead to cancer

Scientists in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center say that just one, single, malfunctioning microRNA is sufficient to cause cancer in mice.

18 Apr 2006

Dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia patients resistant to Gleevec

A study led by researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has found that dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients resistant to Gleevec. (imatinib), according to a study presented during the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

11 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

St. Jude projects 90 percent cure rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The cure rate for the once almost universally fatal childhood cancer acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) could reach 90 percent in the near future, thanks to improvements in diagnosis and treatment over the past four decades, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

11 Jan 2006

Infections are a major cause of childhood cancer

Results from a new study of childhood cancer statistics provide further evidence that common infections affecting mother and baby could play a key role in triggering certain types of the disease.

12 Dec 2005

New monoclonal antibody that targets immune system B cells shows promise for treating leukemias

In studies with mice, treatment with a new monoclonal antibody that targets immune system B cells has shown considerable promise for treating leukemias, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, according to immunologists at Duke University Medical Center.

11 Oct 2005

Important milestone towards more individually targeted and effective treatments for cancer patients

The research team has now identified crucial genes in a range of common cancers that have been reported to predict a patient's response to treatment. This follows the team's earlier success in studying a tumor suppressor gene associated with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in children.

9 Oct 2005

Study looks at childrens end-of-life care preferences

Pediatric cancer patients as young as 10 years old who are aware that their disease is incurable have the ability to participate meaningfully in discussions of their own end-of-life care with family members and the health care team, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Sydney Children's Hospital.

5 Oct 2005

$4.7million grant for research on neuroblastoma

Significant funding from Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council will enable researchers at Children’s Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA) for Medical Research to make progress on the treatment of one the most aggressive, drug-resistant childhood cancers - neuroblastoma - over the next five years.

28 Jul 2005

New study shows tiny RNAs intimately associated with cancer

In discoveries that may open a new chapter in understanding and diagnosing cancer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators and their colleagues have established that tiny microRNAs provide a novel genetic route to the initiation of some forms of cancer.

9 Jun 2005

Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines - results may be entirely due to chance

Cancer Research UK comments on the BMJ paper "Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines in England and Wales: a case control study."

3 Jun 2005

Genetics may play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs

Today, the most common childhood cancer is cured in about 80 percent of patients; only forty years ago, this number was closer to five percent. In efforts to further increase the survival rate, researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Chicago studied how an individual's genetics might play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

3 Jun 2005

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

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

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

Day care in infancy protects against childhood leukaemia

Children who attend day care centres on a regular basis in the first few months of life are less likely to develop leukaemia than children who do not, finds a study published online by the BMJ.

22 Apr 2005

Gene expression pattern predicts multiple drug resistance

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital discovery of genetic links to multi-drug resistance gives clinicians new insight into the cause of treatment failure and suggests targets for novel anti-leukemic drugs

19 Apr 2005

Genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma

The genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma. This finding, from investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is published in the current issue of Molecular Cell Biology (MCB).

22 Mar 2005

Inherited traits and tumor mutations affect response to treatment of leukemia

The outcome of chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) depends not only on the acquired genetic make-up of the leukemic cells, but on genes that children inherit from their parents. This study, from investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is published in the online edition of Blood.

3 Mar 2005