Leukemia News and Research

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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.

Cancer mortality rates declined steadily in the last three decades

The number of cancer deaths has declined steadily in the last three decades. Although younger people have experienced the steepest declines, all age groups have shown some improvement, according to a recent report in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

13 Aug 2009

Cancer deaths declined steadily in last three decades

13 Aug 2009

Vion Pharmaceuticals announces ODAC meeting for lead oncology therapeutic Onrigin

Vion Pharmaceuticals (OTC Bulletin Board: VION) today announced the date and location of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) Meeting at which its lead oncology therapeutic Onrigin(TM) (laromustine) Injection will be presented.

10 Aug 2009

Association of Specialty Professors announces the 2009 T. Franklin Williams scholars

The Association of Specialty Professors (ASP) is pleased to announce the eighth class of T. Franklin Williams Scholars. These scholars are recipients of two- to four-year career development awards funded by a generous grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc. and the John A. Hartford Foundation, and co-sponsored by 12 internal medicine specialty societies.

10 Aug 2009

Array Biopharma reports Q4 and full year 2009 financials

Array reported revenue of $5.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, compared to revenue of $6.1 million for the same period in fiscal 2008. Array invested $21.3 million in proprietary research and development for the quarter to advance its seven wholly-owned drugs in clinical development and select discovery programs.

10 Aug 2009

FDA approves APP Pharmaceuticals' Idarubicin HCI injection

APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius Kabi Pharmaceuticals Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:APCVZ), announced today that it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market idarubicin hydrochloride injection in three dosage strengths (5mg/5mL, 10mg/10mL and 20mg/20mL). Idarubicin is therapeutically equivalent to the reference drug Idamycin PFS injection, which is marketed by the innovator Pfizer, Inc.

10 Aug 2009

Innexus Biotechnology announces business development initiative on lead preclinical candidate

InNexus Biotechnology Inc. announced today that the Company will embark on a business development initiative for DXL625™ (CD20), the Company’s lead preclinical candidate for the prospective treatment of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and/or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

6 Aug 2009

Genzyme’s Mozobil approved in Europe

Genzyme Corporation announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Mozobil ® (plerixafor injection), providing a significant new option for patients with the blood cancers lymphoma and multiple myeloma who require an autologous stem cell transplant.

6 Aug 2009

Discovery of new gene mutations linked to leukemia

Decoding the complete DNA of cancer patients is giving scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis a clearer picture of the complexity of the disease and allowing them to see intriguing and unexpected genetic relationships among patients.

5 Aug 2009

New discovery about dystonia

Most people who carry a genetic mutation for a movement disorder called dystonia will never develop symptoms, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists since the first genetic mutation was identified in the 1990's.

5 Aug 2009

Epigenetic alterations may serve as markers for chronic leukemia

A new study shows that certain genes are turned off early, before clinical signs of the disease appear, in the development of chronic leukemia.

5 Aug 2009

Protein DNA repair complex key to avoiding DNA repair mistakes

As the body creates antibodies to fight invaders, a three-protein DNA repair complex called MRN is crucial for a normal gene-shuffling process to proceed properly, University of Michigan research shows.

5 Aug 2009

Epicept files NDA for Ceplene in Canada

EpiCept Corporation has announced that it has filed a New Drug Submission (NDS) with Health Canada for Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in first complete remission. Health Canada typically accepts or refuses an NDS and designates review status within forty-five days of filing. If accepted, the customary timeframe for completion of review and an approval decision is within one year.

5 Aug 2009

New understanding on Gleevec's limitations

University of Michigan researchers have developed an animal model that provides strong evidence why imatinib, marketed as Gleevec, helps patients with chronic myeloid leukemia survive longer, but does not keep the disease from returning if treatment ends.

4 Aug 2009

Silenced genes provide warning sign of blood cancer

In many types of cancer, parts of the genetic material of tumor cells are switched off by chemical labels called methyl groups. This kind of methyl labeling ranges among the epigenetic changes that do not change the sequence of DNA building blocks. Such labels are found particularly often in genes which act as important inhibitors of pathogenic cell growth.

4 Aug 2009

Discovery of novel tumor suppressor

4 Aug 2009

Discovery of novel tumor suppressor

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology researchers studying an enzyme believed to play a role in allergy onset, instead have discovered its previously unknown role as a tumor suppressor that may be important in myeloproliferative diseases and some types of lymphoma and leukemia. Myeloproliferative diseases are a group of disorders characterized by an overproduction of blood cells by the bone marrow and include chronic myeloid leukemia. Lymphoma and leukemia are cancers of the blood.

3 Aug 2009

Scientists re-engineer human enzyme to become resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy

Scientists from the Université de Montréal and McGill University have re-engineered a human enzyme, a protein that accelerates chemical reactions within the human body, to become highly resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy, according to a new study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

28 Jul 2009

Expert says the benefits of breastfeeding are oversold

Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics says that much of the evidence used to persuade mothers to breastfeed was either wrong or out of date.

22 Jul 2009

Targeted nanoparticles boost arsenic’s anticancer punch

Arsenic trioxide has a long history as a potent human poison, but it also has proven valuable as one of the primary treatment options for acute promyelocytic leukemia. Efforts to use arsenic trioxide to treat other types of cancer are under way, but clinical trials are revealing that the extreme toxicity of this material is likely to limit its utility as a broad-spectrum anticancer agent.

21 Jul 2009