Immune Response To Multiple Myeloma Stimulated By Peptide 'Cocktail'
12/13/2011
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have created a "cocktail" of immune-stimulating peptides they believe could provoke the body's defenses to attack multiple myeloma in its early "smoldering" phase and slow or prevent the blood cancer...
A Two-Faced Leukemia?
12/13/2011
One kind of leukemia sometimes masquerades as another, according to a study published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine*. Leukemia results when normal immune cells accumulate mutations that drive uncontrolled growth. T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) derives from immature T cells, whereas acute myeloid leukemia (AML) comes from myeloid cells...
Understanding How Brain Tumors Invade
12/13/2011
Scientists have pinpointed a protein that allows brain tumors to invade healthy brain tissue, according to work published this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine*. 40% of a common but deadly type of brain tumor - called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) - have mutations in a gene that encodes a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)...
In Pre-Leukemic Cells, 'PARP' Drug Sabotages DNA Repair
12/13/2011
Looking for ways to halt the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, scientists at Johns Hopkins have found that a new class of drugs, called PARP inhibitors, may block the ability of pre-leukemic cells to repair broken bits of their own DNA, causing these cells to self-destruct...
Researchers from the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases - including those that are resistant to common treatments...
Cognitive Problems Still Evident Several Years After Breast Cancer Treatment
12/13/2011
A new analysis has found that breast cancer survivors may experience problems with certain mental abilities several years after treatment, regardless of whether they were treated with chemotherapy plus radiation or radiation only...
Outpatients Experience The Most Cancer-Related Blood Clots
12/13/2011
In a study of nearly 18,000 cancer patients, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers found that when blood clots develop - a well-known and serious complication of cancer treatment - 78 percent of the time they occur when a person is out of the hospital, at home or elsewhere, while on chemotherapy...
Researchers Identify Genetic Mutation Responsible For Most Cases Of Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia
12/13/2011
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a gene mutation that underlies the vast majority of cases of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, a rare form of lymphoma that has eluded all previous efforts to find a genetic cause. The research (abstracts 261, 300, 434 and 597), to be presented at the American Society of Hematology's 2011 annual meeting on Monday, Dec. 12 at 2:45 p.m...
AML Patients Have High Response Rate With Vorinostat Added To Treatment
12/13/2011
Adding a drug that activates genes to frontline combination therapy for acute myeloid leukemia resulted in an 85 percent remission rate after initial treatment, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology...
"Twinning" U.S.-Based And Rwandan Physicians Improves Lymphoma Outcomes In Children
12/13/2011
In an African county lacking any specialists in children's cancers, a team approach that "twins" Rwandan physicians with Boston-based pediatric oncologists has shown it can deliver expert, curative care to young patients stricken with lymphoma...