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.

Link between ciliary signaling and cancer

Submarines have periscopes. Insects have antennae. And increasingly, biologists are finding that most normal vertebrate cells have cilia, small hair-like structures that protrude like antennae into the surrounding environment to detect signals that control cell growth.

29 Jun 2007

Support for chromosomal theory of cancer found in cancers' development of drug resistance

Thirty-six years into the war on cancer, scientists have not only failed to come up with a cure, but most of the newer drugs suffer from the same problems as those available in the pre-war days: serious toxicity, limited effectiveness and eventual resistance.

28 Jun 2007

Umbilical cord blood may safely preserve insulin production in children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes

University of Florida researchers sought to determine whether it is feasible to use a patient's own cord blood stem cells to neutralize the body's autoimmune attack on the pancreas and help restore the organ's ability to make insulin, which regulates how the body uses sugar and other nutrients for energy.

27 Jun 2007

Childhood cancer survivors at increased risk of severe health problems as adults

A substantial proportion of childhood cancer survivors experience serious health problems as young adults, particularly those who received radiation treatment, according to a study in the June 27 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, a theme issue on chronic diseases of children.

27 Jun 2007

Inherited genes linked to toxicity of leukemia therapy

St. Jude investigators have discovered inherited variations in certain genes that make children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) susceptible to the toxic side effects caused by chemotherapy medications.

23 Jun 2007

New way to increase stem cells in blood

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report finding a new way to increase stem cells in blood, suggesting a possible treatment to help patients who undergo chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant for leukemia and other cancers recover their immune function more quickly.

23 Jun 2007

Whitehead scientist to study key mechanism in cell division

"Cell division is one of the most fundamental aspects of biology, the process that makes life," says Iain Cheeseman, PhD. "And it has an intrinsic beauty."

22 Jun 2007

The unexpected connection of two gene regulation mechanisms points to new ways for the fight against leukemia

When the activity of individual genes it is longer required, there are two main mechanisms responsible for the “switching off”, mainly DNA methylation and the Polycomb protein complex. Sometimes, these mechanisms lose their efficiency and some of the genes that should be "switched off" remain active.

16 Jun 2007

Researchers find new mechanism of action of the anti-cancer drug sorafenib

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have uncovered a new mechanism of action of the anti-cancer drug sorafenib, which could stimulate the development of novel regimens in which it is combined with other molecularly targeted agents for patients with blood cancers and solid tumors.

15 Jun 2007

Aptamer-targeted nanoparticles collect and detect cancer cells

Using magnetic and fluorescent nanoparticles capable of binding tightly to molecules found only on the surface of cancer cells, a team of investigators at the University of Florida has developed a method for collecting and detecting multiple cancer cells from biological samples.

14 Jun 2007

Study compares cord blood to bone marrow for transplants

Umbilical cord blood transplants may offer blood cancer patients better outcomes than bone marrow transplants, according to an analysis of outcome data performed at the Statistical Center, Center for Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

14 Jun 2007

Researchers reprogram normal tissue cells into embryonic stem cells

Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to take normal tissue cells and reprogram them into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, the cells that are able to give rise to every cell type found in the body.

8 Jun 2007

New drug-delivery system using nanomaterials

Researchers at UCLA have successfully manipulated nanomaterials to create a new drug-delivery system that promises to solve the challenge of the poor water solubility of today's most promising anticancer drugs and thereby increase their effectiveness.

8 Jun 2007

Scientists look at slow-freezing techniques for human tissue

The goal is to make human eggs, ovarian tissue, blood vessels, even whole organs available when needed.

8 Jun 2007

Researchers turn normal tissue cells into embryonic stem cells

8 Jun 2007

Aging stem cells in mice may hold answers to diseases of the aged

As stem cells in the blood grow older, genetic mutations accumulate that could be at the root of blood diseases that strike people as they age, according to work done in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

8 Jun 2007

Arsenic trioxide shows survival benefit for leukemia patients

Through participation in a government-sponsored multi-year study, researchers at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University have helped confirm that arsenic trioxide ,marketed as Trisenox, significantly improves patient survival when coupled with standard chemotherapy treatment in newly diagnosed patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia, or APL.

5 Jun 2007

Dasatinib shows promise as first treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia

An established second-line drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia has high response rates when given to newly diagnosed patients as their first therapy for the disease, according to early results from a Phase II clinical trial at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

5 Jun 2007

Benefits of Herceptin are lasting

An updated analysis of two large randomized clinical trials has found that breast cancer patients who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) along with chemotherapy are living longer and with less risk of recurrent disease, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

5 Jun 2007

Discovery of inherited gene mutation for leukemia

Researchers have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases a person's risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), one of the most common forms of the disease.

1 Jun 2007