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.

Stem cells grown in lab mirror normal developmental steps

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a way to study the earliest steps of human blood development using human embryonic stem cells grown in a lab dish instead of the embryos themselves.

20 Jun 2005

Stem cells to solve blood shortage problems

The State Government of Victoria, Australia announced that Melbourne scientists at Monash University have developed a unique technology that can grow large numbers of blood cells from human embryonic stem cells.

19 Jun 2005

Transplantation of spermatogonial stem cells isolated from leukemic mice restores fertility without inducing leukemia

While more than 70% of patients survive childhood leukemia, curative chemotherapy can often irreversibly impair the formation of spermatozoa, causing infertility in males.

16 Jun 2005

Columbia University launches multi-year campaign to support stem cell researc

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has announced that it is halfway toward realizing the first phase of a multi-year campaign to build upon the university’s groundbreaking stem cell research and lead the effort to fully realize the therapeutic potential of stem cells.

16 Jun 2005

Experts call for more research into treatments for children's brain tumours

More independent study is needed into the biology of children's brain tumours if effective treatments are to be developed, experts at The University of Nottingham have said in a leading journal.

10 Jun 2005

Lorus Therapeutics receives patent allowance to protect novel anticancer drug

Lorus Therapeutics today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, GeneSense Technologies Inc. (GeneSense), has received notice from the European Patent Office of its intention to grant GeneSense's application for a patent of its novel antisense drug, GTI-2501.

9 Jun 2005

MicroRNAs play an important role in human cancer

Over the past few years, scientists have discovered that a new class of genetic regulators called "microRNAs" influences normal human growth and development. Now, researchers have found that microRNAs also play an important role in human cancer. The findings are published in today's issue of the journal Nature (June 9).

9 Jun 2005

New study shows tiny RNAs intimately associated with cancer

In discoveries that may open a new chapter in understanding and diagnosing cancer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators and their colleagues have established that tiny microRNAs provide a novel genetic route to the initiation of some forms of cancer.

9 Jun 2005

Researchers link aberrant 'microRNA' expression to human cancer

8 Jun 2005

Gene therapy for arthritis is both feasible and safe

Gene therapy for arthritis and other non-terminal, debilitating conditions and diseases is both feasible and safe, report researchers who conducted the world's first such test on the approach in patients with advanced rheumatoid arthritis.

6 Jun 2005

Link between childhood leukemia and power lines at the most, slight

In the on-going debate over whether proximity to high voltage power lines may be linked to childhood leukemia, researchers have found the association remains "slight" and "the relation may be due to chance."

5 Jun 2005

Childhood cancer and distance from high-voltage power lines

UK Health Protection Agency response to British Medical Journal paper examining the incidence of childhood cancer in England and Wales and how it relates to distance from major high-voltage overhead power lines has been published.

3 Jun 2005

Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines - results may be entirely due to chance

Cancer Research UK comments on the BMJ paper "Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines in England and Wales: a case control study."

3 Jun 2005

Genetics may play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs

Today, the most common childhood cancer is cured in about 80 percent of patients; only forty years ago, this number was closer to five percent. In efforts to further increase the survival rate, researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Chicago studied how an individual's genetics might play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

3 Jun 2005

Children living close to high voltage overhead power lines at birth may be at an increased risk of leukaemia

The electric power system produces extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields, and since 1979 there has been concern that these fields may be associated with cancer. In 2001, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified extremely low frequency magnetic fields as "possibly carcinogenic" while others, such as the UK Childhood Cancer Study, dispute the risk.

3 Jun 2005

Early surgical removal of the spleen combined with antiangiogenic cancer therapy may halt the progression of leukemia

The research, published today in Blood, is the first to show the combination of two factors secreted from the environment of the spleen is important in the promotion of leukemia.

1 Jun 2005

Emergence of cancer as a major cause of death among children in developing regions of the world is not being adequately addressed

This growing rate of pediatric cancer is occurring as the number of children dying from infectious diseases is being reduced through the efforts of the World Health Organization and international charities, the researchers say.

29 May 2005

No link found between hair dyes and cancers

The growing worldwide concern about a possible link between hair dyes and some forms of cancer, which was further fuelled by one recent study showing an apparent positive relationship, prompted a European Commission safety panel to call for an urgent review.

24 May 2005

Cyclophosphamide may be a possible therapy for scleroderma

A drug that suppresses the immune system and reduces inflammation has been shown to be effective in treating lung disease associated with the devastating connective tissue disease scleroderma, according to results presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 23.

24 May 2005

Long-term outcomes studied for stem cell transplant recipients

Improved techniques and supportive care have resulted in a growing number of long-term survivors of stem cell transplants, though little is known about the impact transplants have on patients’ lives long after treatment.

23 May 2005