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.

Researchers decode the instructions that tell cells how to become blood

Blood cells have limited lifespans, which means that they must be continually replaced by calling up reserves, and turning these into the blood cell types needed by the body.

4 Sep 2006

Tumor necrosis factor A antagonist use and cancer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune, inflammatory disease marked by progressive joint and organ damage, face a high risk of developing cancer.

31 Aug 2006

Brits warned against 'maverick' stem cell treatments

A group of top scientists in Britain have warned patients to be wary of "extravagant" claims made for "unorthodox" stem cell treatments offered abroad and that some stem cell treatments could be killers.

29 Aug 2006

Drug trial fiasco induced immune system overload in patients

The doctors who treated six British men in a trial of a drug in March which went horribly wrong, say they believe the men suffered an immune system overreaction known as a cytokine storm.

15 Aug 2006

Experimental drug trial victim has cancer

One of the men who suffered severe reactions to an experimental drug during a drug trial in London, UK, says he now has cancer.

6 Aug 2006

Leukemia gene changes genetic packaging

A signaling system involved in many forms of leukemia and lymphoma is more powerful than scientists have thought, exerting control over our genes by affecting whole swaths of chromosomes in global fashion.

6 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

Researchers determine why gene therapy treatment caused leukemia in some X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency patients

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have developed a mouse model of a severe disease of the immune system that helps explain why gene therapy used to treat children with this disease at an institution in Europe caused some of them to develop leukemia.

2 Aug 2006

Future looks bleak for victims of 'elephant man' drug trial

The men who suffered horrendous reactions during a drug trial in the UK could well be facing developing cancer and other fatal diseases as a result of being poisoned in the test, and are at risk of an early death.

31 Jul 2006

Smart cancer drug on sale in the UK

A new "smart" cancer drug will be available to patients in Britain today which works by deploying two chemical 'bullets' that attack specific molecular targets, starving tumours of nutrients and inhibiting the enzyme that signals cells to multiply.

31 Jul 2006

Honey more effective than antibiotics

A household remedy millennia old is being reinstated: honey helps the treatment of some wounds better than the most modern antibiotics.

27 Jul 2006

FDA expands use of Oncaspar to include treating children and adults with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of Oncaspar to include treating children and adults with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as part of a multiple drug chemotherapy regimen.

25 Jul 2006

Belfer Foundation funds new translational cancer institute

The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation has pledged $8 million to create the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

25 Jul 2006

Gleevec may cause heart problems

Gleevec, the wildly successful poster-child of a new generation of cancer drugs aimed at specific targets in the cancer cell, can be dangerous to the heart.

24 Jul 2006

Researchers identify potential ovarian cancer stem cells

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified potential ovarian cancer stem cells, which may be behind the difficulty of treating these tumors with standard chemotherapy.

21 Jul 2006

Leukemia gene normally has mammary gland function

A gene critical for normal mammary gland function during nursing helps trigger highly lethal leukemias when it undergoes a mutation that fuses it to another gene, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

19 Jul 2006

Researchers isolate rare cancer stem cells that cause leukemia

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston and their colleagues have isolated rare cancer stem cells that cause leukemia in a mouse model of the human disease.

18 Jul 2006

Roswell Park research aids development of myeloma drug

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) researchers played a leading role in clinical studies which led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new treatment for patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma - the second most common blood cancer.

11 Jul 2006

Discovery of gene mutation gives hope for Down syndrome and Alzheimer's victims

Researchers in the U.S. have discovered a gene mutation that shrivels brain cells which they suspect is responsible for the mental retardation seen in Down syndrome.

6 Jul 2006