http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. When patients suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) express high levels of the gene, MN1, an already aggressive leukemia is accelerated and shortens survival time. While that's a known fact, the mechanisms involved aren't well understood which is why a Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researcher decided to take a closer look. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-pieces-aml-prognosis-puzzle.html Cancer Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:20:16 EST news269536794 Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a novel method for determining how ready acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells are to die, a discovery that may help cancer specialists to choose treatments option more effectively for their patients who have AML. In a study published in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Cell, the researchers report that their findings may lead to improved tests to predict which patients successfully treated for AML can continue in remission with standard chemotherapy alone, and which patients are likely to relapse despite additional treatment, but might benefit from a bone marrow transplant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-tool-leukemia-cells-readiness-die.html Cancer Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:26:14 EST news269177167 (Medical Xpress)—Studying leukemia in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have reduced a life-threatening complication of stem cell transplants, the only curative treatment when leukemia returns. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-deadly-complication-stem-cell-transplants.html Medical research Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:13:02 EST news267981167 Investigators at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have identified two promising therapies to treat patients with acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL), a rare form of leukemia where the number of cases is expected to increase with the aging population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-assault-tough-leukemias.html Cancer Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:19:02 EST news267376732 (Medical Xpress)—Imagine that a police bomb squad comes upon a diabolically designed bomb controlled by a tangled mass of different wires, lights and switches, some of which have a real function while others are decoys. The police don't know how to begin defusing the bomb because they don't know which parts are important. Then imagine the police discover the bomb-making factory and are able to see hundreds of these bombs at various stages of construction. With this information, they can reconstruct how the bomb was put together, and therefore how to disarm it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-leukemias-accumulate-blood-stem-cells.html Cancer Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:39:29 EST news265538362 (Medical Xpress)—University of Rochester Medical Center scientists believe they are the first to identify genes that underlie the growth of primitive leukemia stem cell, and then to use the new genetic signature to identify currently available drugs that selectively target the rogue cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-genetic-signature-leukemia.html Cancer Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:47:16 EST news265276030 Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have made a discovery involving mice and humans that could mean that people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and usually fatal cancer, are a step closer to new treatment options. Their study results were published online today in Cancer Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-gene-discovery-treatment-acute-myeloid.html Cancer Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:14:56 EST news264086089 Scientists have identified new genetic alterations underlying a high-risk subtype of the most common childhood cancer that could be effectively targeted with existing leukemia therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-drugs-treatment-options-high-risk-childhood.html Cancer Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:52:00 EST news264081090 Using a new assay method to study tumor cells, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center have found evidence of clonal evolution in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The assay method distinguishes features of leukemia cells that indicate whether the disease will be aggressive or slow-moving, a key factor in when and how patients are treated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tumor-cells-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:42:36 EST news262622533 Hundreds of mutations exist in leukemia cells at the time of diagnosis, but nearly all occur randomly as a part of normal aging and are not related to cancer, new research shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hundreds-random-mutations-leukemia-linked.html Genetics Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:00:13 EST news261915212 Researchers have identified a prognostic marker in the most common form of chronic leukemia that can help to distinguish which patients should start treatment quickly from those who can safely delay treatment, perhaps for years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-marker-distinguishes-more-aggressive-less-aggressive-chronic.html Cancer Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:40:01 EST news258718111 A new study by University of Kentucky researchers shows how light and strained ruthenium-based drugs may be more effective at fighting cancer cells and less toxic to healthy cells than a similar and widely used drug. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-ruthenium-based-drugs-cancer-cells.html Cancer Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:41:34 EST news258648082 A new study has identified a life-and-death signaling role for a molecule on the surface of the immune cells involved in the most common form of chronic leukemia. The finding could lead to more effective therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), an as yet incurable cancer that occurs in more than 16,000 Americans annually. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-life-and-death-molecule-chronic-leukemia-cells.html Cancer Wed, 30 May 2012 11:27:25 EST news257596010 Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center may be one step closer to developing a new therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after discovering that the targeted agents obatoclax and sorafenib kill leukemia cells much more effectively when combined than when the drugs are administered individually. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-potential-leukemia-treatment.html Cancer Tue, 22 May 2012 18:20:01 EST news256928130 A new study describes a therapeutic approach to halting cancer progression by exploiting a previously unrecognized "addiction" of leukemia cells to specific signaling molecules. The research, published by Cell Press online on April 16th in the journal Cancer Cell, identifies non-classical oncogenes critical for tumor development and survival, and describes a potentially less toxic strategy that selectively targets these molecules. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-therapy-exploits-addiction-leukemia-cells.html Cancer Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:45:03 EST news253802693 The key to treating one of the most common types of human leukemia may lie within mutations in a gene called FLT3, according to new research led by physician-scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gene-mutations-critically-important-role.html Cancer Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:00:04 EST news253620907 (Medical Xpress) -- Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a new drug makes chemotherapy more effective in treating acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. Instead of attacking these cells directly, the drug helps drive them out of the bone marrow and into the bloodstream, where they are more vulnerable to chemotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-drug-leukemia-vulnerable-chemo.html Cancer Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:01:07 EST news251445658 A retinoid called all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), which is a vitamin A-derivative, is already used successfully to treat a rare sub-type of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), however this drug has not been effective for the more common types of AMLs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-tranylcypromine-antidepressant-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:00:06 EST news250688589 (Medical Xpress) -- A team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center has identified a novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells – but not normal adult tissues – that could provide a new target for future anti-cancer drugs and treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-embryonic-protein-cancer-growth.html Cancer Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:13:05 EST news250236775 University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have discovered new links between leukemia cells and cells involved in bone formation, offering a fresh perspective on how the blood cancer progresses and raising the possibility that therapies for bone disorders could help in the treatment of leukemia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-leukemia-cells-bad-bone.html Medical research Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:51:22 EST news246819076 A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to Penn State researchers. The compound -- delta-12-protaglandin J3, or D12-PGJ3 -- targeted and killed the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences. The compound is produced from EPA -- Eicosapentaenoic Acid -- an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and in fish oil, he said. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-fish-oil-key-leukemia.html Cancer Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:50:04 EST news243769771 Clinician-scientists in the Princess Margaret Cancer Program have found a promising approach to treating leukemia, using an old drug in a new way. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-potential-leukemia-treatment-antibiotic-drug.html Cancer Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:34:10 EST news240496443 One of the causes of resistance to cancer treatment in children is now beginning to be elucidated. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients with a particular form of the ATF5 gene are at higher risk of having a relapse when treated with E. coli asparaginase, a key chemotherapy drug for this type of leukemia. This is what a study by Dr. Maja Krajinovic published in the Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology, reveals Dr. Krajinovic is an investigator at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, which is affiliated with the University of Montreal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-gene-responsible-relapses-young-leukemia.html Cancer Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:33:50 EST news238854821 A newly identified defect in a DNA repair system might leave some young leukemia patients less likely to benefit from a key chemotherapy drug, possibly putting them at greater risk of relapse. The problem was identified in a study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-newly-dna-defect-linked-leukemia.html Medical research Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:12:26 EST news236254319 A drug now prescribed for cardiovascular problems could become a new tool in physicians' arsenals to attack certain types of leukemia that so far have evaded effective treatments, researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cardiovascular-drug-treatment-difficult-leukemia.html Cancer Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:24:46 EST news235049078 An international team of researchers has found a group of mutations involved in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), and showed that certain drugs, already in clinical use to treat other diseases, can eliminate the cells carrying these mutations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-mutations-leukemia.html Genetics Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:00:02 EST news234359885 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 Doctors who treat children with the most common form of childhood cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukemia – are often baffled at how sometimes the cancer cells survive their best efforts and the most powerful modern cancer drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-key-drug-resistant-leukemia.html Cancer Wed, 18 May 2011 13:00:09 EST news224942034