Bone Marrow Transplant News and Research

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Clinical trial uses personalized cellular therapy to treat GVHD complication of bone marrow transplant

An innovative clinical trial using the science of "personalized" cellular therapy has begun enrolling children and adults suffering from graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a life-threatening complication of bone marrow transplantation in which donor immune lymphocytes attack the organs of the bone marrow transplant recipient.

3 Apr 2015

New bone marrow transplant unit launched in Bangalore, India

A bone marrow transplant can mean the difference between life and death for people with blood cancers and related disorders. But many patients in India can't afford the high treatment costs, and for them a transplant is not an option. This is changing thanks to a newly launched bone marrow transplant unit at M.S. Ramaiah Medical College in Bangalore.

19 Mar 2015

Findings reveal variations between countries and regions in use of HSCT procedure

Since the first experimental bone marrow transplant over 50 years ago, more than one million hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (HSCT) have been performed in 75 countries, according to new research charting the remarkable growth in the worldwide use of HSCT, published in The Lancet Haematology journal.

28 Feb 2015

Life-saving bone marrow transplants are not available to all who need them

Bone marrow (hematopoietic stem cell) transplant is a life saving treatment for patients with blood cancer that replaces blood stem cells lost to disease or chemotherapy. However, for each patient to benefit a matching donor must be found to provide the stem cells for transplant.

27 Feb 2015

TKI introduction improves French CML patient survival

Real-world study findings from France show the significant impact tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment has had on the survival of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia.

17 Feb 2015

Three Keck Medicine scientists of USC receive $4.3 million from CIRM for stem cell research

Three scientists from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California have won grants exceeding $4.3 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine for research that includes creating a temporary liver for transplant patients, finding novel ways to treat immune disorders and blood diseases and developing a new animal model for exploring diseases like heart failure, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

5 Feb 2015

FDA accepts Sangamo BioSciences' IND for SB-BCLmR-HSPC genome editing approach

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced today that an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the company's SB-BCLmR-HSPC genome editing approach, which is designed to provide a one-time lasting therapy for beta-thalassemia, has been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is now active.

4 Feb 2015

Anti-viral immune cells could inhibit bone marrow transplant infections caused by CMV

Bone marrow transplantation is a life-saving therapy for patients with blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma. However, the depletion of the patient's immune system prior to transplantation can put patients at risk of for an infection by a virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV) that can be life threatening in these immune-compromised individuals.

4 Feb 2015

SCCA's Fred Hutch Bone Marrow Transplant Program achieves higher survival rates

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance was recently recognized for outperforming its anticipated one-year survival rate for allogeneic transplant patients.

28 Jan 2015

New treatment combinations improve outcomes for vulnerable patient with hard-to-treat disease

New treatment combinations and targeted therapies for lymphoma and multiple myeloma are improving outcomes for vulnerable patient populations with hard-to-treat disease, according to studies presented today at the 56th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.

7 Dec 2014

Scientists seek to improve stem cell transplant outcomes using DNA sequencing, mathematical modeling

Is the human immune system similar to the weather, a seemingly random yet dynamical system that can be modeled based on past conditions to predict future states? Scientists at VCU Massey Cancer Center's award-winning Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program believe it is, and they recently published several studies that support the possibility of using next-generation DNA sequencing and mathematical modeling to not only understand the variability observed in clinical outcomes of stem cell transplantation, but also to provide a theoretical framework to make transplantation a possibility for more patients who do not have a related donor.

5 Dec 2014

Researchers develop standardized, team-based approach to reduce alarm fatigue in hospitals

The sound of monitor alarms in hospitals can save patients' lives, but the frequency with which the monitors go off can also lead to "alarm fatigue," in which caregivers become desensitized to the ubiquitous beeping.

10 Nov 2014

Actimab-A extends overall survival, reduces bone marrow blasts in older AML patients

Interim data from an ongoing Phase I/II trial of Actimab-A, an innovative targeted payload immunotherapy, demonstrated a number of positive findings, including extension of overall survival and significant reductions in bone marrow blasts in older patients with newly diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

7 Nov 2014

VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers develop tool for measuring cancer health literacy

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center researchers have developed the first and only tool that can accurately measure cancer health literacy (CHL) and quickly identify patients with limited CHL. This tool has the potential to improve communication and understanding between physicians and patients, which, in turn, could lead to better clinical outcomes.

4 Nov 2014

Reduced chemotherapy exposure after surgery could decrease overall complications

A study of pediatric patients with hepatoblastoma led by researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) suggests an opportunity to reduce chemotherapy in up to 65 percent of patients, which could lead to a decrease in the incidence of adverse effects.

31 Oct 2014

Bortezomib drug effective against chronic GVHD

Researchers at UC Davis have found that the drug bortezomib effectively treats chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common and debilitating side effect from allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

27 Oct 2014

Novel approach may help detect invasive aspergillosis

Many different microbes can cause pneumonia, and treatment may be delayed or off target if doctors cannot tell which bug is the culprit. A novel approach—analyzing a patient's breath for key chemical compounds made by the infecting microbe—may help detect invasive aspergillosis, a fungal infection that is a leading cause of mortality in patients with compromised immune systems, according to a proof-of-concept study now online in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

23 Oct 2014

Couple renews multi-million dollar commitment to screen newborn babies for SCID disorders

Frustrated with the slow pace of implementation of Newborn Screening for Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), Vicki and Fred Modell renewed a multi-million dollar commitment to screen every baby born in every state for this life threatening condition, often referred to as "Bubble Boy" disease.

21 Oct 2014

Scientists say fundamental theory about how thymus educates immune police appears to be wrong

A fundamental theory about how our thymus educates our immune police appears to be wrong, scientists say.

9 Oct 2014

Cyclophosphamide drug can eliminate life-threatening immune response after bone marrow transplants

Johns Hopkins and other cancer researchers report that a very short course of a chemotherapy drug, called cyclophosphamide, not only can prevent a life-threatening immune response in some bone marrow transplant recipients, but also can eliminate such patients' need for the usual six months of immune suppression medicines commonly prescribed to prevent severe forms of this immune response.

8 Oct 2014