blood cancer

Scientists assemble genetic playbook for acute leukemia
05/01/2013 - 13:48

A team of researchers led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified virtually all of the major mutations that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-growing blood cancer in adults that often is difficult to treat.

 

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Increased survival rates for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma
03/18/2013 - 20:09

  A new population-based study from Karolinska Institutet has shown that the survival rate for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma - a form of cancer of the lymphatic system - has seen considerable improvements in recent decades. The number of patients suffering from treatment-related heart complications with fatal consequences has for example reduced as a result of new treatment strategies. Over 5,000 patients were involved in the study published in the scientific journal, Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Combo of Avastin, Second Drug Shows Promise Fighting Brain Cancer, Mayo Clinic Finds
02/15/2013 - 13:27

The drug bevacizumab, also known by the trade name Avastin, shrinks tumors briefly in patients with an aggressive brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme, but then they often grow again and spread throughout the brain for reasons no one previously has understood. Now, Mayo Clinic researchers have found out why this happens. They have also discovered that pairing Avastin with another cancer drug, dasatinib, can stop that lethal spread. Dasatinib is approved for use in several blood cancers.

 

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Experimental drug combination selectively destroys lymphoma cells
02/06/2013 - 12:19

Laboratory experiments conducted by scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center suggest that a novel combination of the drugs ibrutinib and bortezomib could potentially be an effective new therapy for several forms of blood cancer, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

 

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A genetic defect in sex cells may predispose to childhood leukemia
12/18/2012 - 11:15

Researchers at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and the University of Montreal have found a possible heredity mechanism that predisposes children to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of blood cancer in children. According to their findings published in Genome Research, the presence of a genetic defect in the egg or sperm from which children having ALL arise may be a prerequisite for the disease to develop. A significant number of children with ALL are thought to inherit a rare PRDM9 gene variant responsible for the abnormal sex cells–a gene variant that puts their own children at risk of having ALL-predisposed offspring.

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Leukemia Patients Remain in Remission More Than Two Years After Receiving Genetically Engineered T Cell Therapy
12/10/2012 - 07:47

Nine of twelve leukemia patients who received infusions of their own T cells after the cells had been genetically engineered to attack the patients’ tumors responded to the therapy, which was pioneered by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn Medicine researchers will present the latest results of the trial today at the American Society of Hematology’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

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