http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. 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. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-t-cell-therapy-eradicates-aggressive-leukemia.html Cancer Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:30:33 EST news283433425 Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a possible lead in treatment of two childhood leukemia subtypes known for their dramatic loss of chromosomes and poor treatment outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-genetic-basis-high-risk-childhood-cancer.html Genetics Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:00:01 EST news277901054 By reprogramming a 7-year-old girl's own immune cells to attack an aggressive form of childhood leukemia, a pediatric oncologist has achieved a complete response in his patient, who faced grim prospects when she relapsed after conventional treatment. The innovative experimental therapy used bioengineered T cells, custom-designed to multiply rapidly in the patient, and then destroy leukemia cells. After the treatment, the child's doctors found that she had no evidence of cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-immune-cells-response-child-aggressive.html Cancer Sun, 09 Dec 2012 23:50:01 EST news274318776 This month, Molecular Pharmaceutics reported promising findings from the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research and the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Delaware, about the potential for nanotechnology to deliver chemotherapeutic agents in a way that attacks cancer cells without harming healthy cells. To date, nanoparticle-based drug delivery approaches have been poorly developed for the treatment of childhood leukemia, which comprises 30% of childhood cancers. In the Nemours study, encapsulated dexamethasone ("dex") delivered to pre-clinical models with leukemia significantly improved quality of life and survival compared to the control receiving the unencapsulated drug. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-nanotechnology-drug-delivery-treatment-pediatric.html Cancer Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:06:07 EST news273845157 Research led by the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified a fusion gene responsible for almost 30 percent of a rare subtype of childhood leukemia with an extremely poor prognosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-gene-sequencing-abnormal-rare-childhood.html Cancer Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:39:30 EST news271949948 The tremendous potential public health benefits of research with blood samples left over after routine newborn screening must not be lost amidst controversy and litigation, say medical and bioethics experts in a commentary published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-scientific-casualty-health-privacy-debate.html Other Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:00:09 EST news271508304 (Medical Xpress) -- Scientists have gained insight into how second-hand tobacco smoke damages the earliest stages of human embryonic development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-tobacco-affects-early-human-embryonic.html Medical research Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:47:10 EST news251102801 A study by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) reported that five-year survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, the most common type of pediatric cancer) among children treated through COG clinical trials increased from 83.7 percent during the period 1990-1994 to 90.4 percent in the period 2000-2005. The improvements in survival were observed among all children over age 1 regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or subtype of ALL. This analysis, which is the largest study to date of ALL survival, showed similar gains in 10-year survival. The findings are published March 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-steady-long-term-survival-children-acute.html Cancer Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:09 EST news250779264 A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has developed the first "theranostic" agent for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). ALL is the most common type of childhood cancer diagnosed in approximately 5,000 new cases each year in the United States. The findings provide insight into pediatric oncology that specifically focuses on the development of "theranostic" agents-- a treatment platform that combines a selective diagnostic test with targeted therapy based on the test results. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-theranostic-treatment-acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia.html Cancer Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:38:03 EST news250357076 Researchers at The University of Western Ontario have identified genes that may be important for preventing childhood leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the blood that occurs primarily in young children. It's frequently associated with mutations or chromosomal abnormalities that arise during embryonic or fetal development. Working with mice, researchers led by Rodney DeKoter identified two key genes that appear essential in the prevention of B cell ALL, the most common form of ALL in children. The study is published online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-genes-vital-childhood-leukemia.html Genetics Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:38:00 EST news230218661 A difficult-to-treat form of childhood leukemia relies on changes in the structure of DNA – so-called epigenetic changes – to wreak genomic havoc within white blood cells, according to one of two studies conducted by a research team at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Together with collaborators from a biotechnology company, the same team also showed that a new drug that blocks these changes could deactivate cancer-promoting genes and halt the growth of this cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-epigenetic-pathway-drug-reversing-hard-to-treat.html Cancer Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:48:56 EST news229607322