The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tasigna® (nilotinib) for the treatment of chronic and accelerated-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) for patients who are not able to tolerate or who have stopped responding to Gleevec® (imatinib). Tasigna® is an agent that also targets the same protein as Gleevec but through a different [...]
A 14-year-old boy died Wednesday night in Seattle, hours after a Skagit County judge affirmed his right to reject treatment. Dennis Lindberg, of Mount Vernon, died around 6 p.m. at Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle. As a Jehovah’s Witness, Lindberg refused blood transfusions in his fight against leukemia, against doctors’ advice that [...]
A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, Mitoxantrone an immunosuppressant has been found to heighten the risks of contracting leukemia as a side effect. The drug has been approved by the FDA and the side-effect is due to new research onto the interaction of the drug and the body’s response to it. High dosage of [...]
Military personnel and people who work with radioactive compounds each and every day accept the fact that leukemia, often a risk of their jobs. New research in the use and administration of biphosphates to counteract the effects of radiation induced leukemia is proving promising to help reduce job related-risks for such people. People who work [...]
Researchers have recently discovered that a drug used to treat drug addiction, methadone has a very desirable effect on leukemia cells, killing them while not affecting the normal ones. This comes as a surprise for not only does it kill leukemia cells, it has also shown effectivity against forms of the disease that have previously [...]
People who live in areas where drilling for natural gas is underway should be aware that the current practice of the drilling industry releases dangerous levels of the cancerous chemical benzene into the water table. Benzene is a colorless, sweet smelling and highly toxic. Considered to be the highest cause of leukemia and some forms [...]
Image Source: www.upload.wikimedia.org The term leukemia refers to cancers of the white blood cells, which are also referred to as leukocytes or WBCs. When a child has leukemia, large numbers of abnormal white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal white cells crowd the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream, but they [...]
Findings from two large, international clinical trials show unparalleled survival for patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer of the blood-making cells of the bone marrow. The findings demonstrate that with Revlimid, an oral cancer drug, all measures of myeloma showed significant improvement in patients where previous treatments had failed. Rush University Medical Center took [...]
Good news for those who need treatments for leukemia: new research reveals that Parthenolide, a compound present in the Feverfew plant, could kill leukemia stem cells without harming healthy blood cells. It was found out that after 18 hours, leukemia cells exposed to Parthenolide was destroyed. This is better than Cytaribine, a common drug used [...]