In a pilot study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tefferi et al found that imetelstat, which targets the RNA template of telomerase reverse transcriptase, produced responses in patients with myelofibrosis. Treatment was associated with myelosuppression in some patients. Current...
In a recent report of single-institution experience in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kasamon et al found that nonmyeloablative-related HLA-haploidentical blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) followed by high-dose cyclophosphamide produced good outcomes in patients aged 50 to 75 years...
Results of a phase I trial show that an investigational topical drug, resiquimod gel, causes regression of both treated and untreated tumor lesions and may completely remove cancerous cells from both sites in patients with early-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Currently, there is no cure for...
In an analysis from the National LymphoCare Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Casulo et al found that disease progression within 2 years of diagnosis was associated with increased mortality risk after first-line R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan] plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
The costs associated with cancer drug prices have risen dramatically over the past 15 years, a trend concerning to many oncologists. In a new analysis, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center concluded that the majority of existing treatments for hematologic cancers are...
Blood and marrow transplantation is a potentially curative treatment for patients with leukemia or other life-threating blood diseases. With a goal of increasing survival rates, a research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) investigators verified patient outcome data submitted by more ...
New research published by Søgaard et al in Blood found that blood clots in the abdominal veins might be an indicator of undiagnosed cancer. The study also suggests that these clots predict poorer survival in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer. Clotting and Cancer Risk Compared to...
Findings from the PERSIST-1 study of patients with myelofibrosis show that the JAK inhibitor pacritinib is significantly more effective than best available therapy, which includes a range of off-label treatments, for easing the symptoms of myelofibrosis. At a landmark analysis at 24 weeks of...
A new study links a father's age at birth to the risk that his child will develop blood and immune system cancers as an adult, particularly for only children. The study, published by Teras et al in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found no association between having an older mother and these...
More than 60% of patients with Epstein-Barr virus–associated lymphoproliferative disorder (EBV-LPD) that was nonresponsive to standard rituximab (Rituxan) treatment responded to a new type of immunotherapy called Epstein-Barr virus–specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (EBV-CTL) therapy....
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Treon et al found that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was highly active and produced durable responses in patients with previously treated Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. Response rates were highest in patients with MYD88 mutation and...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bochtler et al found that presence of the t(11;14) translocation on interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) was associated with poorer hematologic event-free and overall survival in patients receiving...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Vannucchi et al found that the JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib (Jakafi) produced significantly better hematocrit control and reduction in spleen volume than standard treatment in patients with polycythemia vera with inadequate...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Genovese et al found that clonal hematopoiesis with somatic mutations is increasingly common with greater age and is associated with increased risk of hematologic cancer. The presence of such clonal hematopoiesis in apparently healthy...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to treat patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Ruxolitinib, a JAK inhibitor, is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition. Polycythemia vera occurs when too...
Combining the molecular targeted drug ibrutinib (Imbruvica) with the investigational anticancer agent ABT-199 may improve outcomes for patients with mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to preclinical data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research...
A laboratory study of the investigational drug CX-5461, which blocks the inhibition of RNA polymerase I transcription, has found that it prolonged survival in mouse models of highly aggressive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma refractory to standard therapy. In addition, the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to pacritinib for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis, including patients with disease-related thrombocytopenia on other JAK2 therapy or patients who are intolerant to or whose symptoms are suboptimally...
Past exposure to immunosuppressive drugs called thiopurines has been found to increase the risk of myeloid disorders, such as acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The findings were reported by Lopez et al in Clinical...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and granted Priority Review to the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) as a potential treatment of patients with polycythemia vera who have had an inadequate response to or are intolerant of...
Although the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) has shown unprecedented clinical activity in mantle cell lymphoma, about 32% of patients do not respond to the drug and majority of responders eventually relapse. Genomic sequencing of tumor and healthy tissue from patients...
BCR-ABL1–like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a recently identified B-cell ALL subtype associated with poor outcome, has a gene-expression profile similar to BCR-ABL1–positive disease without the presence of the BCR-ABL1 fusion protein. In a retrospective analysis reported in the...
Multicentric Castleman’s disease is characterized by overproduction of interleukin-6 (IL-6). In a trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, van Rhee et al found that the anti–IL-6 antibody siltuximab (Sylvant) produced a significantly better response rate vs placebo in patients with the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved idelalisib (Zydelig) for the treatment of patients with three types of blood cancers. Idelalisib is being granted traditional approval to treat patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Used in combination with rituximab...
As reported by Sant et al in The Lancet Oncology, the population based EUROCARE-5 study has shown significantly improved survival in hematologic malignancies in Europe between 1997 and 2008. Although improved, survival was poorer in Eastern Europe compared with other regions. Study Details This...
According to a new study, a cascade of molecular events in the bone marrow produces high levels of inflammation that disrupt normal blood formation and lead to potentially deadly disorders including leukemia. The discovery, published by the journal Cell Stem Cell, points the way to potential...
Despite some success in treating patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, many patients may experience late effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatment, including the possible onset of breast cancer or heart disease. A study by Hoppe et al from the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute...
The use of cord blood cells as hematopoietic stem cell grafts for patients with hematologic malignancies receiving an allogeneic stem cell transplant has been limited to children due to the small number of stem cells present in a single cord blood collection. The result of these limitations has...
Antibiotic monotherapy is considered standard in empiric therapy in febrile neutropenic cancer patients, but the approach may be insufficient given the increase in infections due to multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Tigecycline (Tygacil), the first in a new class of glycylcycline antibiotics, has ...
The results from a phase I study of a new investigational epigenetic therapy called OTX015, a small-molecule inhibitor that blocks the activity of bromodomain and extraterminal (BET)-bromodomain proteins, is showing clinical activity in some blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma. The study ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bulian et al found that CD49d-positive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients have significantly poorer overall survival and treatment-free survival and that CD49d status is the strongest flow cytometry–based predictor of overall...
Five commonly used hematology tests, treatments, and procedures are not always necessary, according to the Choosing Wisely® initiative of the ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) Foundation. The American Society of Hematology (ASH) Choosing Wisely list of these five tests was...
Obinutuzumab (Gazyva) plus chlorambucil (Leukeran) was superior to rituximab (Rituximab) plus chlorambucil as first-line therapy in older chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients with comorbidities, with an acceptable safety profile, according to final results of the phase III CLL11 trial....
The intensity of transplant-related chemotherapy and radiation has effects on cognition, according to a study presented at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 913). Full-intensity hematopoietic stem cell transplant was associated with cognitive...
Development of autologous genetically engineered anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing T cells holds promise in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. CAR T cells are being studied in adult and pediatric acute lymphocytic leukemias and in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and...
A team of researchers looking into the interplay of the immune system and cancer have found a link between a history of airborne allergies—in particular to plants, grass, and trees—with risk of blood cancers in women. The same association was not found in men, suggesting a possible...
Combining gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) with conventional chemotherapy may improve the outcome of bone marrow transplantation for some children battling high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The results appear in the...
The Group for Research in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (GRAALL) recently reported significantly better outcome in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) harboring NOTCH1 or FBXW7 (N/F) mutations, although relapse was still observed in one-third of patients with N/F-mutated T-cell ALL. In a ...
Because statins exhibit immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects that may ameliorate graft-vs-host disease, they may be a safe strategy following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mehdi Hamadani, MD, and colleagues ...
Although imatinib (Gleevec) is the initial therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), several second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors are now approved for the treatment of this disease. Michael Millenson, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, reviewed practical considerations in...
Interim positron emission tomography (PET) scan is being used to guide risk-adapted therapy in patients with early-stage and advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma for clinical research at academic centers, and experts predict that this will become standard of care in clinical practice. At the NCCN 8th...
New evidence suggests that using advanced genetics technologies to monitor for remaining cancer cells after treatment may soon become an effective tool to inform treatment decisions and ultimately predict patient outcomes for patients with a particularly aggressive form of acute lymphocytic...
Durable remissions are uncommon with current treatments for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) is an essential component of B-cell receptor signaling that mediates interactions with the tumor microenvironment and promotes survival and proliferation of...
A large prospective multicenter cohort study in France and Belgium, reported by the Groupe de Recherche Respiratoire en Réanimation Onco-Hématologique, has shown that critically ill patients with hematologic malignancies admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) have good survival,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation to Stemline Therapeutics' SL-401 for the treatment of blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, a rare and aggressive hematologic malignancy for which there is no effective treatment. SL-401 also has Orphan Drug...
Survival rates have increased significantly among patients who received blood stem cell transplants from both related and unrelated donors, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study authors attribute the increase to several factors, including advances in HLA...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office today awarded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital U.S. patent number 8,399,645 for its invention of compositions for genetically modifying human immune cells so they can destroy some of the most common forms of cancer in children and adults. "This...
While advancements in cancer treatment over the last several decades have improved patient survival rates for certain cancers, some patients remain at risk of developing treatment-related leukemia, according to results of a study published online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of...
Telik, Inc, announced that its product candidate, ezatiostat hydrochloride (Telintra), has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Ezatiostat is an investigational agent in development for the treatment of MDS and idiopathic chronic...