Bone Marrow Transplant News and Research

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Johns Hopkins expert says crucial ethics should be considered in HIV cure research

A cure for HIV infection - the International AIDS Society meeting in Kuala Lumpur in early July offered new hope of the possibility, after researchers announced that two "Boston patients" had shown no resurgence of the virus after receiving a bone marrow transplant and ceasing their antiretroviral therapy (ART).

14 Aug 2013

Proton therapy provides organ-sparing treatment option for children with neuroblastoma

Proton therapy, using high-energy subatomic particles, may offer a precise, organ-sparing treatment option for children with high-risk forms of neuroblastoma. For patients in a new study of advanced radiation treatment, proton therapy spared the liver and kidneys from unwanted radiation, while zeroing in on its target.

14 Aug 2013

Mirror Effect of Immunovative Therapies: A new approach to cancer treatment

Dr. Michael Har-Noy, founder and CEO of Immunovative Therapies Ltd, a biotech company in Israel, describes a new and unique approach to cancer treatment.

20 Jul 2013

Discovery of hybrid cells in human melanoma

The University of Colorado Cancer Center along with Yale University and the Denver Crime Lab report in the journal PLOS ONE the first proof of cancer's ability to fuse with blood cells in a way that gives cancer the ability to travel, allowing previously stationary cancer cells to enter the bloodstream and seed sites of metastasis around the body.

16 Jul 2013

Metastasis can occur when leukocyte and cancer cell fuse to form genetic hybrid

Yale Cancer Center scientists, together with colleagues at the Denver Police Crime Lab and the University of Colorado, have found evidence that a human metastatic tumor can arise when a leukocyte (white blood cell) and a cancer cell fuse to form a genetic hybrid.

3 Jul 2013

Certain gastrointestinal types of GVHD are associated with worsened quality of life and death

Joseph Pidala, M.D., M.S., assistant member of the Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant and Immunology programs at Moffitt Cancer Center, and colleagues from the Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Consortium have determined that certain gastrointestinal and liver-related types of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) are associated with worsened quality of life and death.

18 Jun 2013

Study reveals radioimmunotherapy can improve survival rates of patients with aggressive lymphoma

A new patient protocol for aggressive and recurrent lymphoma that combines intensive chemotherapy and radioimmunotherapy (RIT) may become the most powerful cancer-killing therapy available, with the hope that patients' lymphoma can be eradicated as they prepare for bone marrow transplant, say researchers at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

12 Jun 2013

Three easy steps for cancer survivorship

Incorporating just three easy steps into a daily routine can increase a cancer patient's chance at survival, according to a physician who specializes in cancer survivorship.

31 May 2013

Findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could block metastasis spread

By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer.

22 May 2013

New data help explain hospital pricing, but experts caution that Medicare and insurers get much lower rates

Although the government releases a list of what hospitals across the country charge for common procedures in an effort to make health costs more transparent, few patients or their insurers pay that.

10 May 2013

First Edition: May 9, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the politics surrounding the health law, both in terms of the latest GOP push for repeal and the Obama administration's implementation efforts.

9 May 2013

Study: Combination of chemotherapy and nerve-protecting agents can prevent anemia

Cancer chemotherapy can cause peripheral neuropathy-nerve damage often resulting in pain and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that chemo also induces an insidious type of nerve damage inside bone marrow that can cause delays in recovery after bone marrow transplantation.

6 May 2013

Scientists study repeating patterns in nature to better understand role of immune system in cancer

Can the patterns in tree branches or the meandering bends in a river provide clues that could lead to better cancer therapies? According to a new study from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, these self-similar, repeating patterns in nature known as fractals help scientists better understand how the immune system is organized and may one day be used to help improve stem cell transplant outcomes in leukemia patients by predicting the probability of transplant complications.

2 May 2013

SCCA pioneers new transplant procedures to reduce need for matching bone marrow donors

Patients from ethnic minority and mixed-racial backgrounds are less likely to receive a lifesaving bone marrow transplant than Caucasian patients with the same disease due to lack of matching donors, according to the National Marrow Donor Program.

19 Apr 2013

New immunotherapies are seldom developed for childhood cancer

More often than not, cancer immunotherapies that work in adults are used in modified ways in children. Seldom are new therapies developed just for children, primarily because of the small number of pediatric patients relative to the adult cancer patient population.

9 Apr 2013

Doctors give new hope for leukemia patients

Leukemia patients receive a bone marrow transplant, which allows them to build a "new" immune system. However, this immune system not only attacks cancer cells but healthy tissue too.

3 Apr 2013

Study provides important insight into how BMT treatment works in patients with MS

A new study by Multiple Sclerosis researchers at three leading Canadian centres addresses why bone marrow transplantation has positive results in patients with particularly aggressive forms of MS.

27 Mar 2013

Researchers expand hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation

More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation -- a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system.

25 Mar 2013

Investigators examine effectiveness of probiotics for cancer treatment

One may not think of probiotics -- like those found in yogurt that promote good digestive health -- as a weapon used in the fight against cancer. But that is the focus of investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, who are examining the effectiveness of probiotics as they relate to the outcomes of bone marrow transplant for patients with blood cancers.

21 Mar 2013

Media examine reaction to, potential implications of 'functional cure' of infant born with HIV

"The remarkable case of a baby being cured of HIV infection in the United States using readily available drugs has raised new hope for eradicating the infection in infants worldwide, but scientists say it will take a lot more research and much more sensitive diagnostics before this hope becomes a reality," Reuters reports.

6 Mar 2013