Discovery pinpoints cause of 2 types of leukemia

Patients with two forms of leukemia, who currently have no viable treatment options, may benefit from existing drugs developed for different types of cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

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Molecule treats leukemia by preventing cancer cell repair, Jackson Laboratory scientists report

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have identified a molecule that prevents repair of some cancer cells, providing a potential new “genetic chemotherapy” approach to cancer treatment that could significantly reduce side effects and the development of treatment resistance compared with traditional chemotherapy.

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New drug combination therapy developed to treat leukemia

A new, pre-clinical study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center suggests that a novel drug combination could lead to profound leukemia cell death by disrupting the function of two major pro-survival proteins. The effectiveness of the therapy lies in its ability to target a pro-survival cell signaling pathway known as PI3K/AKT/mTOR, upon which the leukemia cells have become dependent.

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Key bone marrow protein identified as potential new leukemia treatment target

.A new study on how the progression of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is influenced by the bone marrow environment has demonstrated for the first time that targeting a specialized protein known as osteopontin (OPN) may be an effective strategy to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with this type of blood cancer. Study data were published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

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T-cell therapy eradicates an aggressive leukemia in 2 children

Two children with an aggressive form of childhood leukemia had a complete remission of their disease-showing no evidence of cancer cells in their bodies-after treatment with a novel cell therapy that reprogrammed their immune cells to rapidly multiply and destroy leukemia cells. A research team from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania published the case report of two pediatric patients Online First today in The New England Journal of Medicine. It will appear in the April 18 print issue.

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Breakthrough in battle against leukemia

Scientists at Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics and The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have discovered a critical weakness in leukaemic cells, which may pave the way to new treatments.

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Researchers capture key moments in cell death

Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have for the first time visualised the molecular changes in a critical cell death protein that force cells to die.

The finding provides important insights into how cell death occurs, and could lead to new classes of medicines that control whether diseased cells live or die.

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More than a third of high-risk leukemia patients respond to an experimental new drug

 

A new drug for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) marked by a specific type of genetic mutation has shown surprising promise in a Phase II clinical trial. In more than a third of participants, the leukemia was completely cleared from the bone marrow, and as a result, many of these patients were able to undergo potentially curative bone marrow transplants, according to investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and nine other academic medical centers around the world. Many of the participants who did well with the new drug, quizartinib or AC220, had failed to respond to prior therapies.

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Leukemia patients remain in remission more than 2 years after engineered T cell therapy

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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Inhibitors of shuttle molecule show promise in acute leukemia

 

• An estimated 10,200 Americans will die of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2012, so new ways of treating the disease are needed.
• This study uses a novel class of experimental drugs to halt a process that helps AML cells develop and survive.
• The findings show that the agent is promising and should be considered for clinical trials testing.

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