Recently in Blood Cancer Category

Women who had their tonsils removed in childhood may be at increased risk of developing pre-menopausal breast cancer, according to University at Buffalo researchers.

Study leader Theodore Brasky said an apparent association may be related to the loss of protective function of the tonsils when they are removed.

Alternatively, tonsils that needed to be removed may have been markers for severe or chronic infections in childhood, and that such infections cause inflammation that may contribute to cancer, Brasky said.

According to results presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, treatment with Sprycel® (dasatinib) provides superior outcomes compared to escalated doses of Gleevec® (imatinib) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who have stopped responding to previous treatment with standard doses of Gleevec.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a cancer that originates in the immune cells. It affects approximately 4,600 people annually in the U.S. In the case of CML, large numbers of young immune cells do not mature, resulting in an excess accumulation of these cells. These leukemia cells then crowd the bone marrow and blood, suppressing formation and function of other blood cells normally present in these areas. In addition, the leukemia cells cannot perform their function properly, leaving patients susceptible to infection.

ZURICH (AFX) - Novartis AG said new data from a Phase II study with cancer drug Tasigna shows impressive response rates in leukaemia patients with resistance or intolerance to treatment with Glivec.

According to the data, which forms the basis for US and EU regulatory approvals, Tasigna eliminated or significantly reduced the presence of blood cells containing a defective chromosome in approximately half of the adult patients.

The reductions may be the highest ever reported with a targeted therapy at a minimum of six months follow-up, the Basel-based drugs maker said.

source - AFX 

AN unknown genetic and environmental cocktail has sparked a mysterious rise in blood cancers in Australia with rates almost doubling over the past two decades.

While most cancers have declined or stabilised, the incidence of blood cancers such as lymphoma is on the rise.

New cases of blood cancers have spiked from nearly 4000 cases in 1983 to more than 7500 diagnosed in 2001.

Blood cancers include leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma, the condition from which singer Delta Goodrem suffered.

Geron has presented encouraging clinical trial data for its telomerase inhibitor cancer drug, GRN163L.

The data demonstrated the safety, tolerability and predicted pharmacokinetics in low-dose cohorts from a phase I/II trial in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a phase I trial in patients with solid tumors.

"This is the first time telomerase inhibition has been tested in cancer patients. The excellent tolerability and pharmacokinetics observed so far enable us to advance to the therapeutic dose cohorts, where we hope to demonstrate safe, sustained telomerase inhibition in the targeted tumor cells," said Alan Colowick, Geron's president, oncology.

Melbourne cancer researchers discover that the body's immune system may cycle every 3-10 days - which could change the way cancer drugs are administered and possibly improve cancer survival rates.

Within this cycle, scientists at Genetic Technologies believe they have found a possible 'optimal window' for administering cancer drugs so that they work in best with the patient's immune response to the disease. The project, called ImmunAid, does not involve another cancer fighting drug; more simply, it determines the optimum time for administering existing treatments. Genetic Technologies is in the process of collaborating with a number of parties under which treatment trials will be initiated.

It is hoped that these trials will begin in early 2007.

Clinicians at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have successfully demonstrated an improved technique for blood stem cell transplantations in children that shows promise for those most likely to fail standard treatment for leukemia.

The St. Jude technique allows blood stem cells to come from parents or unmatched adult siblings; and it avoids the aggressive, toxic treatments that usually must accompany the transplant. This allows the majority of patients with leukemia or non-cancerous blood disorders to receive a transplant, according to Gregory Hale, M.D., St. Jude Bone Marrow Transplantation Division interim chief. A report on this work appears in the prepublication edition of the British Journal of Haematology.