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Physicians may be able to safely lower the platelet dosage in transfusions for cancer and bone-marrow transplant patients without risking increased bleeding, according to new research.
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Researchers have discovered a key reason why chronic myeloid leukemia progresses from its more-treatable chronic phase to a life-threatening phase called blast crisis. The study indicates that CML progresses when immature white blood cells lose a molecule called miR-328 and this traps the cells in a rapidly growing, immature state. The research should provide a better understanding of the blast-crisis stage of CML, and it suggests a possible new treatment strategy for the disease.
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Scientists studying acute forms of leukemia have identified a new drug target to inhibit the genes which are vital for the growth of diseased cells. The research reveals how leukaemia cells become 'addicted' to genes, which if targeted could prevent diseased cells from developing.
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Between 5 and 10 percent of babies with Down syndrome develop a transient form of leukemia that usually resolves on its own. However, for reasons that haven't been clear, 20 to 30 percent of these babies progress to a more serious leukemia known as Down syndrome acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (DS-AMKL), which affects the blood progenitor cells that form red blood cells and platelets. Now, researchers have found a gene regulator they believe to be a key player in DS-AMKL, advancing understanding of how the disease develops and how to treat it.
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A strong predictor of poor outcome in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is resistance to chemotherapy with glucocorticoids. Such resistance is caused, in part, by an inability of the leukemic cells to die by a process known as mitochondrial apoptosis. However, researchers have now identified a way to get round this block in mitochondrial apoptosis in glucocorticoid-resistant childhood ALL cells.
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Children with the most common childhood cancer did not experience improved outcomes from participating in a clinical trial between 1997 and 2005. Researchers studied 322 patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (a cancer involving the white blood cells), approximately half of whom participated in one of several available clinical trial protocols for the disease.
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Bone marrow transplant patients say two of the most debilitating side effects of the treatment are nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and radiation. But a new study has found the drug aprepitant can dramatically reduce both nausea and vomiting when combined with other anti-nausea drugs.
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Cancer researchers have high hopes for a new therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukemia.
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Researchers have found that one particularly aggressive type of blood cancer, mixed lineage leukemia, has an unusual way to keep the molecular motors running. The cancer cells rely on the normal version of an associated protein to stay alive.
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Childhood leukemia rates have more than doubled over the last 15 years in the southern Iraq province of Basrah, according to a new study.
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Although leukemia is one of the best studied cancers, the cause of some types is still poorly understood. Now, a newly found mutation in acute myeloid leukemia patients could account for half of the remaining cases of adult acute leukemia with an unknown origin.
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Several distinct mutations found in a subset of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia result in excess production of the same metabolite, according to new research.
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Researchers have found that girls with anorexia, despite being emaciated, have strikingly high levels of fat in their bone marrow. This can be visualized in MRIs of the knee. The researchers believe that malnutrition causes hormonal alterations that push mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow to form fat cells rather than bone-forming cells. This may explain why patients with anorexia have bone loss.
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Scientists explain how an anti-inflammatory agent called "ATL146e" may significantly improve the likelihood of success for bone marrow transplants by preventing or halting the progression of graft-versus-host disease, a complication of bone marrow transplants in which the donor marrow attacks the host.
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Using cells from mice, scientists discovered a new strategy for making embryonic stem cell transplants less likely to be rejected by a recipient's immune system. This strategy involves fusing bone marrow cells to embryonic stem cells. Once fused, hybrid cells have DNA from both donor and recipient, raising hopes that immune rejection of embryonic stem cell therapies can be avoided without drugs.
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Leukemia cells, like most cancers, are addicted to glucose to generate their energy, but new research shows for the first time that these cells also rely on fatty acid metabolism to grow and to evade cell death.
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Childhood cancer survivors who had brain or other central nervous system cancers, or leukemia, achieve lower-than-expected educational success compared with the general public, according to a new article.
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Scientists have discovered the cells that cause a common type of childhood leukemia -- T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Targeting of these cells may lead to improved treatments for this disease and help prevent relapse.
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Our genes are arranged on 23 pairs of chromosomes. Chromosomal abnormalities that occur when nonmatching pairs of chromosomes swap genetic information are known as chromosomal translocations. Chromosomal translocations are the cause of several forms of leukemia, as they can result in dysregulation of genes that cause cancer. The gene MLL is often inappropriately regulated in acute leukemias caused by chromosomal translocation, and researchers have now identified a molecular pathway that is important for inducing MLL-associated leukemia formation.
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Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to new research. Researchers say the findings support further investigation of the drug, decitabine, as a first-line treatment for these patients, who have limited treatment options.
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Preliminary studies show that a vaccine made with leukemia cells may be able to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia patients taking the drug Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec).
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Researchers have identified the first biomarker of graft-versus-host disease of the skin. The discovery makes possible a simple blood test that should solve a treatment dilemma facing doctors with patients who frequently develop rashes after bone marrow transplants.
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Scientists have discovered a link between diabetes and bone marrow nerve damage that may help treat one of the disease's most common and potentially blindness-causing complications.
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A tumor's genetic profile is often useful when diagnosing and deciding on treatment for certain cancers, but inexplicably, genetically similar leukemias in different patients do not always respond well to the same therapy. Researchers believe they may have discovered what distinguishes these patients by evaluating the "epigenetic" differences between patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
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Scientists have discovered how some epigenetic instructions get stably transferred from one generation of cells to the next. They report that newly formed cells learn which genes need to become highly active right away thanks to a helpful protein that "bookmarks" these genes during the division of their parent cell.
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A new study finds that the herb milk thistle may help treat liver inflammation in cancer patients who receive chemotherapy. The study indicates that the herb could allow patients to take potent doses of chemotherapy without damaging their liver.
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A targeted drug that is active against acute myeloid leukemia is particularly effective when teamed with chemotherapy in patients whose cancer cells harbor a key genetic mutation, according to new research.
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A new study could point the way to the development of better drugs to fight a deadly form of childhood leukemia called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL).
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Leukemia and myeloproliferative disorders are serious and often deadly blood cancers. Recent research introduces potential new treatment options and improved diagnostic methods for patients suffering from acute promyelocytic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and myelofibrosis that are based on a better understanding of the underlying genetic causes of these conditions.
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Pediatric oncologists have identified specific genes, dubbed partner genes, that fuse with another gene to drive an often-fatal form of leukemia in infants. By more accurately defining specific partner genes, researchers expect to better predict which infants may benefit from particular treatments. Oncologists also aim to use this latest knowledge to develop new and more effective therapies for this difficult-to-treat type of blood cancer, called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
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Two new studies report that lunasin, a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants, may have important health benefits that include fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation that accompanies such chronic health conditions as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
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Treatment for a number of cancers and other medical conditions is transplantation with bone marrow from a genetically nonidentical individual. Researchers have now identified several molecules involved in a process that contributes to two medical complications that occur in patients following allo-BMT, susceptibility to infections and recurrence of cancers. Some of these molecules might prove good drug targets to improve outcome following allo-BMT.
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Researchers have devised powerful new tools for typing cells from children with acute lymphatic leukemia and for prediction of how children with leukemia will respond to chemotherapy.
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Phase 2 study results show high-dose imatinib plus chemo more than doubled survival for high risk type of childhood leukemia.
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Researchers have discovered that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a role in damage in the eye after bone marrow transplantation.
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Long durations of exposure to formaldehyde used for embalming in the funeral industry were associated with an increased risk of death from myeloid leukemia, according to a new study.
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Patients who have acute leukemia and are transplanted with two units of umbilical cord blood (UCB) have significantly reduced risk of the disease returning. This finding has the potential to change the current medical practice of using one unit of UCB for treatment of patients who are at high risk for recurrence of leukemia and other cancers of the blood and bone marrow.
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The drug Sprycel, approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, significantly inhibited the growth and invasiveness of ovarian cancer cells and also promoted their death, a new study has found.
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Two genes, each one of which is known to cause cancer on its own, together can lead to aggressive leukemia. This is the conclusion from new research carried out on gene-modified mice by scientists in Sweden. The discovery has surprised scientists, and may lead to new treatments.
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For the first time, researchers have reported the use of a radiolabeled antibody to deliver targeted doses of radiation, followed by a stem cell transplant, to successfully treat a group of leukemia and pre-leukemia patients for whom there previously had been no other curative treatment options.
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Two different anti-apoptotic proteins support cancer cell survival via an identical mechanism, yet differ in their sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs, researchers report.
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Women with breast cancer should be given high doses of vitamin D because a majority of them are likely to have low levels of vitamin D, which could contribute to decreased bone mass and greater risk of fractures, according to scientists.
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A new chemotherapy cocktail cuts the spread of breast cancer by half and is the first drug to attack metastasizing breast cancer. The disease becomes fatal when it travels outside the mammary ducts, enters the bloodstream and spreads to the bones, liver or brain. Currently, there are only drugs that try to stem the uncontrolled division of cancer cells within the ducts.
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Scientists have created a viable technology to improve the detection of leukemia cells in bone marrow.
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Acute lymphatic leukemia is the most common form of blood cancer in children. Even though chemotherapy is improving, the cancer often returns. New research shows that cancer cells that have been exposed to chemotherapy and survived are less vulnerable to chemotherapy, and more aggressive as well. But this research also yielded discoveries that should be able to enhance our treatment of the disease.
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Researchers are one step closer to finding new ways to treat myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a bone marrow disease that strikes up to 15,000 people each year in the United States, and that sometimes results in acute myeloid leukemia. Researchers found that the gene RhoB is important to the disease's progression and could prove to be a therapeutic target for late-stage MDS.
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Obesity is an important factor contributing to chemotherapy resistance and increasing relapse rates among children with leukemia, according to recent findings.
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Osteoporosis is a growing concern among breast cancer survivors and their doctors, because certain cancer drugs can cause bone loss. A new study has found that bone loss can be halted with a comprehensive regimen that includes both osteoporosis drugs and treatments that target secondary causes of bone loss.