Leukemia News and Research

RSS

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.

New study reveals PTPN2 gene loss causes bone cancer

In patients with leukemia, the formation of white blood cells in the bone marrow is disrupted. This makes leukemia patients particularly susceptible to infections, because properly functioning white blood cells ensure protection against intruders such as viruses and bacteria.

21 May 2010

Phase I study of SNS-032 demonstrates safety, potential clinical activity in treating B-cell malignancies

A Phase I clinical trial of SNS-032, one of the first in a new class of drugs that inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases, demonstrated the drug's safety and potential clinical action against advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cyclin-dependent kinases are enzymatic proteins that are integrally involved in cellular metabolism, renewal and signaling, and are thought to play key roles in the growth of cancers.

20 May 2010

Researchers identify cancer gene that could help fight paediatric glioma

Researchers have identified an important cancer gene that could lead to more effective drugs being developed to fight paediatric high grade glioma, a disease which currently has a poor prognosis.

19 May 2010

Combination therapy proves to be effective treatment for lethal form of leukemia: Research

New research discovers a combination of drugs that may prove to be a more effective treatment for a lethal form of leukemia. The study, published by Cell Press in the May issue of the journal Cancer Cell, reports that the new therapeutic strategy effectively targets notoriously intractable leukemia stem cells that often escape standard treatment and are a main factor in disease relapse.

18 May 2010

Cancer Research UK launches new cancer centre in Leeds

LEEDS today joins a unique chain of Cancer Research UK Centres that are being launched across the UK.

18 May 2010

152 research and training grants awarded to researchers at 93 institutions nationwide

The American Cancer Society, the largest non-government, not-for-profit funding source of cancer research in the United States, has awarded 152 new national research and training grants totaling $50,717,000 in the first of two grants cycles for 2010. The grants, primarily to early career researchers, cover a broad range of investigator-initiated ideas at 93 institutions nationwide, from whether cadmium exposure increases the risk of endometrial cancer, to studies of plant and bacterial-bourne compounds, to a study on a protein called survivin that could lead to novel drugs targeting prostate cancer.

18 May 2010

Australian doctors identify new disease and devise its cure

A team of Australian doctors have identified a new disease and its cure. In their report published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases the doctors from The Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) report a case of a young NSW woman ill for almost a decade with repeated hospitalizations. She is now said to be suffering from a diseases that disabled the signaling processes of her immune system. The diseases is not named yet. Dr Maher Gandhi, head of QIMR's Immunohemotology Laboratory believes there are more cases of this disease. He said this Monday, “I haven't got a name for it other than T-cell signaling defect of which I assume there are quite a few different types… There are no recorded cases of this in the literature. Katie is unique ... I think we're at the tip of the iceberg here.”

17 May 2010

Hawthorn announces licensing deal with University of Pittsburgh for novel monoclonal antibodies for cancer

Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced a global licensing deal with the University of Pittsburgh covering a series of novel monoclonal antibodies for cancer. The antibody portfolio targets a variety of cancers through the cell surface chondrotin sulfate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4), which plays an important role in signaling pathways regulating tumor cell survival, growth, and motility.

17 May 2010

LLS's School & Youth Programs raise $1M to help fight against childhood cancer

Participants in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Greater Los Angeles Chapter School & Youth(SM) Programs raised an unprecedented $1 million this spring, in a campaign that gives kids a chance to help in the fight against blood cancers.

17 May 2010

Athersys presents data supporting MultiStem programs

Athersys, Inc. today presented data supporting its MultiStem® programs in cardiovascular disease, neurological disease and immune system modulation, and highlighted advancements in other areas, including progress in its drug development program in the area of obesity.

15 May 2010

BioSante Pharmaceuticals first-quarter net loss increases to $10.5 million

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported on its recent developments and financial results for the first quarter, and its cash balance as of March 31, 2010.

14 May 2010

Hana Biosciences reports $5.5 million net loss for first-quarter 2010

Hana Biosciences Inc.,, a biopharmaceutical company focused on strengthening the foundation of cancer care, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010, and provided a corporate update.

14 May 2010

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals reports net loss of $5.1M for first-quarter 2010

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing oral therapies that target the various phases of cell cycle control for the treatment of cancer and other serious disorders, today reported its financial results and business highlights for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

14 May 2010

COTI announces favourable independent pre-IND gap analysis report for novel oncology drug candidate

Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. announced today that it received a favourable Pre-Investigational New Drug (pre-IND) gap analysis report from an independent team that reviewed its novel oncology drug candidate COTI-2. This represents an important milestone as the Company draws closer to a Phase 1 clinical trial.

12 May 2010

Genmab reports revenues of DKK 107M for first-quarter 2010

Genmab's revenues were DKK 107 million (USD 19 million) for the first quarter of 2010. In the same period of 2009, Genmab recognized revenues of DKK 250 million (USD 45 million).

12 May 2010

EntreMed adds DF/HCC hospitals to Phase 2 study of ENMD-2076 for platinum resistant ovarian cancer

EntreMed, Inc., today announced the addition of Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) to the Phase 2 multi-center study entitled "A Phase 2 Study of Oral ENMD-2076 Administered to Patients with Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer." Ursula Matulonis, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, will serve as principal investigator.

11 May 2010

New multicenter trial achieves 71% survival in AML children

More individualized therapy and better supportive care helped push the survival for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to 71 percent three years after diagnosis, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators and reported in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology. The survival rate of 71 percent is 20 percent better than previously reported U.S. rates and is similar to the success achieved in a 2009 Japanese study, said Jeffrey Rubnitz, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Oncology department.

11 May 2010

Increased cholesterol levels can affect microenvironment of bone marrow

Increased cholesterol levels are being increasingly recognised as risk factors for the onset and progression of several cancers. Now researchers in Portugal show that high levels of cholesterol can affect the microenvironment of the bone marrow, so that more cells move from the bone marrow to peripheral, circulating blood.

11 May 2010

Researchers develop new type of drug to kill non-Hodgkin lymphoma tumor cells

Three researchers who are recipients of a collaborative grant from the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation have developed a new type of drug designed to kill non-Hodgkin lymphoma tumor cells. The breakthrough could lead to potential non-toxic therapies for cancer patients. The Foundation-funded investigators include Ari Melnick, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medical College, Alexander MacKerell, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland and Gilbert Priv-, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto.

11 May 2010

Ferring to acquire global rights to Xanodyne Pharmaceutical's LYSTEDA

Ferring Pharmaceuticals today announced an agreement that will expand its Women's Health product portfolio with the acquisition of the global rights to Xanodyne Pharmaceutical's LYSTEDA™ (tranexamic acid), a first-in-class, non-hormonal therapy indicated specifically for treatment of women with cyclic heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB).

10 May 2010