Lymphoma Information Network

New bone marrow transplant program opens in Arizona

Ross Bonander — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:25:03 +0000

Good news for hematologic cancer patients in need of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant living in the southwestern United States.

The Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare recently announced the addition of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant cancer treatment program at the facility's new Cancer Transplant Institute.

The program is expected to attract hematologic cancer patients including those with lymphomas in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.

Already a member of the National Marrow Transplant Program (NMDP), which allows it to perform unrelated donor transplants, the Cancer Transplant Institute at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for autologous and allogeneic adult transplants.

Source: PR Newswire

FDA approves H. pylori breath test for children

Ross Bonander — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:08:30 +0000

The US Food & Drug Administration has approved the first breath test for use in children ranging in age between 3 and 17 for the detection of the Helicobacter pylori bacterial infection.

BreathTek UBT was first FDA approved for adults back in 1996. It was approved for children based on a published study involving 176 patients. The detector proved to have a 95.8 percent sensitivity rating.

In addition to being a culprit in causing gastritis and ulcers in the stomach, theHelicobacter pyloribacteria has also been implicated in some stomach cancers, notably in mucosal-associated-lymphoid-type (MALT) lymphoma, a mostly indolent for of B-lineage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Source: FDA

Can Mushrooms Cure Cancer?

LymphomaInfo Staff — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:26:18 +0000

The "Mushroom Man" talks about health benefits of mushrooms including possibly curing cancer

Research uncovers Down's Syndrome link to rare leukemia

Ross Bonander — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:15:37 +0000

People with Down Syndrome (DS) have traditionally been recognized as having an increased risk of developing leukemia, specifically either acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Until now, no one could say why but researchers from Northwestern University think they may have the answer to at least the increased risk of AMKL.

In Down Syndrome, a person has an extra chromosome: instead of having 2 copies of chromosome 21, they have three. Researchers hypothesezid that the increased risk of AMKL must exist somewhere on that extra chromosome, and they believe that they have found it in the increased expression of the protein templated by the chromosome 21 gene DYRK1A, which causes AMKL to develop in mice models of Down Syndrome.

Researchers were able to inhibit the activity of the DYRK1A gene in the lab, preventing the development of AMKL cells lines. Thus an inhibitors of DYRK1A activity could be a potentially very effective therapeutic response to DS patients with AMKL.

Source: Medical News Today

Komen Blues

The BeauBeau — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:51:41 +0000

The dust has settled ever so slightly on the Komen-Planned Parenthood eruption. It seems everyone and their cousin has weighed in on the issue. Meanwhile, I’ve listened. My overall perception and opinion of Komen hasn’t changed at all, but I think the depth of my understanding of has.

According to Karen Handel, the emails that Komen was getting in response to its announced decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood were running 3 to 1 in support of the decision, and their online donations shot up 400 percent. And yet they reversed the decision. Her explanation symbolizes to me just where Komen is at - that point where either the organization learns to listen and chooses to evolve and change so as to reflect the women they claim to serve, or they go extinct. Comparing Komen to Planned Parenthood, Handel is quoted as saying, “Komen doesn’t have the strength in the area of social media.” Maybe it’s [past] time they play some catch-up.

While Komen sleeps, more and more of the women they claim to serve are waking up. Waking up to the fact that breast cancer rates keep rising, waking up to the fact that detecting cancer is a far cry from curing (or better yet, preventing) cancer, waking up to the fact that breast cancer is big business and that Komen is one of the biggest bankers in the business, at times seeking to profit off the very products that raise breast cancer rates. And I am just one of many, many, many on social media pointing this out. But apparently Komen is either deaf, or just doesn’t want to hear.

And then of course there’s one other possibility, that Komen hears just fine and is listening carefully, just not to us, surely not to the low-income women served by Planned Parenthood. After all, they appointed Karen Handel after she lost her run for Georgia governor on a campaign that touted her plan to eliminate state grants to Planned Parenthood. Could they possibly not have known?

Susan Beausang, 4Women.com

Gleevec variation prevents morphine tolerance in chronic pain patients

Ross Bonander — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:00:42 +0000

The incredible breakthrough blockbuster leukemia drug Gleevec has saved tens of thousands of lives over the last decade or so, turning chronic myeloid leukemia into a manageable disease, whereas it used to be a death sentence.

Now, researchers at the Departments of Anesthesiology/Perioperative Medicine and Biochemistry at MD Anderson believe they have found another very useful application of Gleevec-- preventing tolerance in morphine patients.

Despite the development of other narcotic agents, morphine remains the gold standard for pain control and management. Unfortunately over time tolerance develops and the drug becomes ineffective.

According to the study published online in Nature Medicine, researchers have found a cellular signal that selectively causes narcotic tolerance. Using a reformulated version of Gleevec, researchers were able to prevent tolerance from developing in mice models, and even reverse it in morphine-tolerant mice.

Said one researcher, "By suggesting a way to prevent or reverse tolerance in patients, this study could have far-reaching implications for many people suffering with chronic intractable pain," including cancer patients.

Source: Medical News Today

Pennsylvania State Senator diagnosed with follicular NHL

Ross Bonander — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:42:45 +0000

Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) has announced that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.

Specifically, Sen. Folmer has been diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a not-uncommon diagnosis for his age group, and the most commonly diagnosed NHL subtype.

His statement:

“In the spirit of the openness and transparency I often talk so much about, I want to share with my constituents and colleagues that I have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. My specific type is follicular grade I, the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and highly treatable. I join more than a half of million other Americans living with the disease, and look forward to joining the many others who have been successfully treated, including Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, hockey great Mario Lemieux, and former United States Senator Arlen Specter.

“Those who know me best are aware of my strong faith and the importance of family, and as my doctors chart a course of treatment, I will rely on my faith and support of family and friends. As Jeremiah 29:11 reads: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’

“As I begin and continue with treatments, I plan to attend to Senate business as normal and remain as committed to representing the citizens of the 48th district as I have been since taking office. I also give my word to my constituents I will periodically update them on my condition through various forms of media and my weekly e-newsletter, Mike’s Memo.”

It should be noted that the personalities noted by the Senator were all diagnosed and treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma, not follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (although Allen was later diagnosed with NHL as well).

Source: WHP TV

FDA not kidding around with drug shortage

Ross Bonander — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:15:14 +0000

In an aggressive, proactive move to ensure that US cancer patients have the medicines they need for anti-cancer treatments, the Food & Drug Administration today announced that it has granted permission to companies outside the country to supply it with two much-needed chemotherapy drugs currently on very short supply.

The FDA will import almost 120,000 vials of preservative-free methotrexate from an Australian manufacturer in March in order to alleviate the urgency of that drug shortage.

They have also given approval to a company from India to supply the US with a much-needed supply of the doxorubicin substitute Lipodox in order to meet the country's high demand and dwindling supply.

Interestingly, Lipodox is not currently approved for the US market by the FDA but the agency has the discretion to allow for the temporary use of the drug during the shortage.

Source: HemOncToday

How Stem Cells Can Treat Lymphoma

LymphomaInfo Staff — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:25:23 +0000

Learn about how stem cells can be used to treat lymphoma

Dandelion root extract shows efficacy against rare leukemia

Ross Bonander — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:58:30 +0000

Researchers from the University of Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospital in Canada have published some potentially important work in the journal PLoS One showing the anti-cancer qualities of dandelion root extract.

Specifically, they have shown how dandelion root extract has the ability to kill cancer cells from the blood of patients diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of leukemia known as chronic myelomonocyctic leukemia (CMML). Not only did the extract cause the cancer cells to commit suicide, it seemed to leave the healthy cells in the blood alone.

When researchers Dr. Si-yaram Pandey and Dr. Caroline Hamm applied the extract to lab mice with cancer, they saw the same results-- dead cancer cells and untouched, healthy cells and tissue-- a far cry from much of today's anti-cancer regimens, which inevitably cause damage to surrounding healthy tissue and lead to toxicity issues.

The pair of researchers are applying the extract to cells from other cancers, and have another paper primed to be published in the journal of the American Pancreatic Association as well.

The next step is a Phase I human trial to determine safety and tolerability, and Pandey and Hamm have submitted an application to Health Canada for approval.

Source: Calgary Herald