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Detailed Gene Scan Might Help Guide Leukemia Treatment

Posted 14 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, March 14 – By analyzing gene mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, researchers were able to more accurately predict which ones had the best chances of going into remission, and which ones would respond well to standard treatments or needed more aggressive treatment. Doctors from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City analyzed 18 genes from about 500 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML is a cancer of the bone marrow, or the soft tissue that forms blood cells. The patients had previously taken part in a clinical trial for a chemotherapy drug, daunorubicin, and researchers knew how everyone had fared in that study. In the new analysis, the scientists used the latest gene-sequencing technology to determine what mutations were present in the cancer cells of the patients, and whether the presence of those mutations predicted how well ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Cerubidine, Daunorubicin

DNA Damage From Chemo May Help Spur Leukemia's Return

Posted 12 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 – The chemotherapy used to treat a form of adult leukemia sets a trap that can result in the return of the disease within years, a new study suggests. The finding confirms the suspicions of specialists who thought chemotherapy drugs could disrupt DNA through mutations and ultimately allow tumor cells to avoid the effects of the medications. "Chemotherapy drugs are absolutely necessary to get leukemia patients into remission, but we also pay a price in terms of DNA damage," study co-author Dr. Timothy Ley, a professor of oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a university news release. These drugs "may contribute to disease progression and relapse in many different cancers, which is why our long-term goal is to find targeted therapies based on the mutations specific to a patient's cancer, rather than use drugs that further damage ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Death Rate Higher in Minorities With Acute Leukemia

Posted 22 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Sept. 22 – A new study finds that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to develop acute leukemia than whites. But if they do become ill, they're much more likely to die. "We don't know the reason for the disparity, but now that we know it exists we can investigate why it occurs," said study lead researcher Dr. Manali I. Patel, postdoctoral fellow in hematology/oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute in Stanford, Calif., in a statement provided by the American Association for Cancer Research. "Like all disparities in cancer, there could be any combination of influences; however, we believe that socioeconomic factors and access to care may be playing an important role." After studying medical records of nearly 41,000 patients with acute leukemia between 1998 and 2008, the researchers found that blacks had a 17 percent higher risk of dying of acute leukemia than whites, and ... Read more

Less Is More With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Drug

Posted 16 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, March 16 – A lower dose of the drug cytarabine work as well as the high doses that are typically used to treat acute myeloid leukemia, and with fewer side effects, a new Dutch study finds. Cytarabine is used in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), along with other chemotherapy drugs and stem cell transplantation. Cytarabine resembles a normal cell nutrient needed by cancer cells to grow. However, when these cells take up cytarabine, the drug actually interferes with their growth. "The high-dose cytarabine schedules represent an unnecessary overdose causing excess toxicity with no apparent clinical benefit," said lead researcher Dr. Bob Lowenberg, a professor of hematology at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam. "The lower dose level is sufficient." The report is published in the March 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. For the study, ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Cytosar, Cytarabine, Cytosar-U, Tarabine PFS

Gene Activity May Affect Acute Myeloid Leukemia Outcome

Posted 21 Dec 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Dec. 21 – For acute myeloid leukemia patients, overactive genes in their leukemic stem cells (LSC) can translate into a more difficult struggle to overcome their disease and achieve prolonged remission, new research reveals. "In many cancers, specific subpopulations of cells appear to be uniquely capable of initiating and maintaining tumors," the study authors explained in their report. The researchers identified 52 LSC genes that, when highly active, appear to prompt worse outcomes among acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The finding is reported in the Dec. 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Between 2005 and 2007, study author Andrew J. Gentles, of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and colleagues examined gene activity in a group of AML patients as well as healthy individuals. Separate data concerning AML tumors in four groups of ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Study Finds Big Strides Made in Treating Leukemia, Lymphoma in Past Decade

Posted 24 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 24 – Clinicians have made remarkable advances in treating blood cancers with bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants in recent years, significantly reducing the risk of treatment-related complications and death, a new study shows. Between the early 1990s and 2007, there was a 41 percent drop in the overall risk of death in an analysis of more than 2,500 patients treated at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, a leader in the field of blood cancers and other malignancies. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, who conducted the study, also noted dramatic decreases in treatment complications such as infection and organ damage. The study was published in the Nov. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine "We have made enormous strides in understanding this very complex procedure and have yielded quite spectacular results," said study senior ... Read more

Gene Mutations Seem to Make a Leukemia More Deadly

Posted 11 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 – Researchers have pinpointed a gene with multiple mutations that seems to separate people who die quickly from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from those who do not. The findings, appearing in the Nov. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, could help identify which AML patients are the best candidates for more aggressive initial treatment. The insights might also provide a target for future therapies. "We have to know the gene before we can design the targeted therapy, and we need to understand the mechanism," explained study senior author Dr. Timothy Ley, a professor of medicine and genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. "The mutations provide a new clue to find out how the mechanism might affect gene regulation in patients with these mutations. Hopefully, [additional studies] will tell us a lot more about how to think about reversing effects of ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Leukemia Drug in High Dose Helps Survival

Posted 16 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23 – Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), take note: A new standard of care is emerging – at least for those younger than 50, or between 60 and 65. That's the take-home message of a pair of studies published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Two research teams – the U.S.-based Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and a team of scientists in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland – studied almost 1,500 patients and independently reported higher rates of complete remission and overall survival in those who received high doses of the chemo drug daunorubicin, compared to those who receive the standard dose. Though those benefits were mostly limited to specific subsets of patients – those younger than 50 or between 60 and 65, who had so-called "favorable" or "intermediate" genetic profiles – they also came without any apparent ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Drinking While Pregnant Tied to Rare Leukemia in Offspring

Posted 6 May 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 6 – Pregnant woman may have another reason to avoid drinking, with a new study finding that alcohol use during pregnancy ups the risk for a rare blood cancer in children. The research, by French scientists, found the chance of getting acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an often fatal blood cancer, increased by 56 percent for children whose mothers drank alcohol while pregnant. The study reinforces doctor's warnings that pregnant women and women trying to conceive should avoid drinking, said the study's author, Paule Latino-Martel, research director at the University of Paris Unit of Research on Nutritional Epidemiology. "Pregnant women and women who are trying to conceive are [already] advised to avoid drinking alcohol, in order to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome," Latino-Martel noted. "Our findings strengthen this recommendation." "The balance of evidence suggests there is a ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Acute Alcohol Intoxication

Stem Cell, Bone Marrow Transplants Both Benefit Leukemia Patients

Posted 1 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Feb. 1 – Long-term survival rates are similar for leukemia patients who've had either peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) or bone marrow transplants, a new European study says. The study began with 329 leukemia patients who received either PBSC or bone marrow transplants from a matched sibling donor between 1995 and 1999. Detailed information was collected on all the patients who survived longer than three years after their transplant. Ten years after transplantation, 49.1 percent of PBSC recipients and 56.5 percent of bone marrow transplant recipients were still alive. Chronic graft versus host disease was more common among PBSC transplant patients (73 percent) than among bone marrow transplant patients (54 percent), and more PBSC recipients needed immunosuppressive treatment five years after transplantation (26 percent vs. 12 percent). But this did not affect the PBSC ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Kids Who Beat Cancer Still Face Heart Risks

Posted 9 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9 – Survivors of childhood cancer have a significantly increased risk for developing heart disease as young adults, a new study finds. The finding came from an analysis of data on 14,358 five-year cancer survivors who were diagnosed before age 21 and 3,899 siblings of cancer survivors. The cancers were leukemia, brain cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, kidney cancer, neuroblastoma, soft tissue carcinoma or bone cancer. The study found that young adult survivors of these childhood cancers are much more likely than others in their age group to have cardiovascular problems, including heart failure, heart attack, heart inflammation and heart valve abnormalities, for up to 30 years after being treated for cancer. They also found that the risk was associated with lower exposure to chemotherapy and radiation treatment than previously thought. "Young adults who ... Read more

New Drug Could Work Against Leukemia

Posted 2 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, July 2 – A new targeted therapy shows promise in treating acute myeloid leukemia, a highly treatment-resistant blood cancer, according to a new study. Researchers created an antibody (7G3) that recognizes and binds to a molecule called CD123, which is expressed at high levels on leukemia stem cells (LSCs), but not on normal blood cells. LSCs are cells that can cause acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are critical for its long-term growth. When AML-LSCs from human patients were transplanted into mice, those treated with 7G3 survived longer than mice that didn't receive the antibody. The researchers found that 7G3 blocked a signaling pathway in tumor cells, impaired migration of AML-LSCs to bone marrow and activated the immune system to destroy AML-LSCs. The findings, published in the July 2 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, hold promise for future cancer treatments, according ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Donor Stem-Cell Transplant Best For Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Posted 9 Jun 2009 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, June 9 – For most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who come out of remission, donor stem cells appear to offer the best shot at survival, a new analysis shows. AML is the most common form of acute leukemia, striking about 12,000 adults a year in the United States. Treatment usually involves chemotherapy to achieve a first remission, but the best subsequent therapy to prolong disease-free survival has been unclear, although the researchers say the results of this latest review could lead to a new standard of care. "First complete remission does not mean you are cured. It doesn't mean that you have eradicated every last cancer cell; in fact, we know you haven't," said review author John Koreth of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "If we stop therapy, then almost invariably the disease will relapse, and you die from a relapse of the leukemia." The next step is ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Higher Chemo Drug Dose Prolongs Lives of Leukemia Patients

Posted 4 Dec 2008 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Dec. 4 – A high dose of the chemotherapy drug daunorubicin prolonged survival for patients with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), preliminary results of a study sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) show. AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. This study included 633 patients, aged 16 to 60, who were randomly assigned to receive either high-dose or standard-dose daunorubicin. Both doses were given in combination with another chemotherapy drug called ara-C (cytarabine). The patients in the high-dose group received 90 milligrams of daunorubicin per square meter of body surface area (90 mg/m2) on each of the first three days of treatment. The standard dose is 45 mg/m2. Patients in the high-dose group had a median overall survival of 23.7 months, compared to 15.1 months for those in the standard-dose group. Both groups had similar ... Read more

Related support groups: Acute Myeloid Leukemia

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Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, Leukemia

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vincristine, decitabine, Mylotarg, Cytosar, cytarabine, Oncovin, gemtuzumab, Cytosar-U, Tarabine PFS, Cerubidine, daunorubicin, Vincasar PFS