Bone Marrow Transplant News and Research

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Novel antiviral drug can protect transplant patients against CMV infections

In a significant advance in improving the safety of donor stem cell transplants, a major clinical trial led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital has shown that a novel agent can protect against the most common viral infection that patients face after transplantation.

24 Feb 2017

Doctors use targeted molecular drugs to treat fatal cancerous blood syndromes

Genomic testing of biopsies from patients with deadly, treatment-resistant cancerous blood syndromes called histiocytoses allowed doctors to identify genes fueling the ailments and use targeted molecular drugs to successfully treat them.

16 Feb 2017

New ‘MAGIC algorithm’ can predict transplant patient’s risk of developing graft-versus-host disease

Researchers at Mount Sinai Health System have discovered a way to predict whether blood cancer patients who received a bone marrow transplant will develop graft-versus-host disease, a common and often lethal complication, according to a study published in JCI Insight.

9 Feb 2017

Research provides insight into how melanoma and other cancers spread from solid tumors

In a second human case, a Yale-led research team has found that a melanoma cell and a white blood cell can fuse to form a hybrid with the ability to metastasize. The finding provides further insight into how melanoma and other cancers spread from solid tumors with implications for future treatment.

30 Jan 2017

Researchers use CRISPR-based genetic screening to identify three promising HIV treatment targets

Investigators from Whitehead Institute, the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to identify three promising new targets for treatment of HIV infection.

20 Dec 2016

New technology that increases Natural Killer cells to stop cancers gets licensed

Our bodies contain Natural Killer (NK) cells - an army that stops cancers and viruses before they can make us sick.

15 Dec 2016

Phenotypic Personalized Medicine could surmount treatment challenges for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

A team of UCLA bioengineers has demonstrated that its technology may go a long way toward overcoming the challenges of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, among the most common types of cancer in children, and has the potential to help doctors personalize drug doses.

14 Dec 2016

Experimental T-cell therapy shows promise in preventing AML relapse

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced promising results from an early trial in which patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia received genetically engineered immune cells.

6 Dec 2016

Cancer gene mutations can predict response to less intensive treatment in AML patients

Patients with the most lethal form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - based on genetic profiles of their cancers - typically survive for only four to six months after diagnosis, even with aggressive chemotherapy.

23 Nov 2016

HSCI researchers use color tagging system to track development of blood stem cells

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have used a colorful, cell-labeling technique to track the development of the blood system and trace the lineage of adult blood cells travelling through the vast networks of veins, arteries, and capillaries back to their parent stem cell in the marrow.

23 Nov 2016

New color-coding tool sheds light on blood disorders, cancers by tracking clonal stem cells

A new color-coding tool is enabling scientists to better track live blood stem cells over time, a key part of understanding how blood disorders and cancers like leukemia arise, report researchers in Boston Children's Hospital's Stem Cell Research Program.

22 Nov 2016

Researchers develop new way to test strength of immune response

The immune system orchestrates large and small scale attacks on innumerous targets: viruses, bacteria, cancer, but it also misfires causing allergy or autoimmune reactions.

27 Oct 2016

Penn researchers identify new immune system mechanism to fight against infections

The innate immune system serves as a first-line defense, responding to infections almost immediately after a pathogen makes its way into the body.

17 Oct 2016

Genome engineering-based methods pave way for new treatment of patients with sickle cell disease

A team of physicians and laboratory scientists has taken a key step toward a cure for sickle cell disease, using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to fix the mutated gene responsible for the disease in stem cells from the blood of affected patients.

12 Oct 2016

New mobile health app may help manage hydroxyurea treatments in sickle cell patients

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a 6-year, $4.4 million grant to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and collaborators to improve the use of prescribed medication by sickle cell patients.

21 Sep 2016

Researchers find new way for early prediction of leukemic relapse

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified RNA-based biomarkers that distinguish between normal, aging hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells associated with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), a particularly problematic disease that typically afflicts older patients who have often already experienced a bout with cancer.

26 Aug 2016

Researchers discover novel pathway for immune recovery following bone-marrow transplantation

New research has shown how a cell surface molecule, Lymphotoxin β receptor, controls entry of T-cells into the thymus; and as such presents an opportunity to understanding why cancer patients who undergo bone-marrow transplant are slow to recover their immune system.

25 Aug 2016

Assigning barcode to stem cells makes it possible to monitor large blood cell populations

By assigning a barcode to stem cells, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have made it possible to monitor large blood cell populations as well as individual blood cells, and study the changes over time.

24 Aug 2016

Penn researchers uncover strategy to reverse effects of dyskeratosis congenita

Dyskeratosis congenita, or DC, is a rare, inherited disease for which there are limited treatment options and no cure.

18 Aug 2016

Stem cells derived from bone marrow provide better quality of life to transplant patients

A large, nationwide study published in the journal JAMA Oncology found that people who received transplants of cells collected from a donor's bone marrow the original source for blood stem cell transplants, developed decades ago had better self-reported psychological well-being, experienced fewer symptoms of a common post-transplant side effect called graft-vs.-host disease and were more likely to be back at work five years after transplantation than those whose transplanted cells were taken from the donor's bloodstream.

17 Aug 2016