The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded today to two scientists whose groundbreaking work led to the development of a class of immunotherapies called checkpoint inhibitors that work by releasing the brakes on the immune system. James P. Allison, Ph.D., chair of department of immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and director of the Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Council, and Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto University School of Medicine...
More than 20,000 cancer scientists from around the globe came to Chicago this week to share and learn about the latest advances in research and treatments at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). AACR is one of the world’s oldest and largest nonprofits dedicated to cancer research and education. Blood cancers were among the thousands of scientific presentations and educational sessions. And while much of the excitement focused on lung cancer and ot...
We’ve just concluded one of the most historic years on record in terms of new therapy approvals for blood cancers. In all, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 18 therapies to treat patients with blood cancers, including some entirely new agents and some new uses for already approved drugs. Among these approvals were the first new therapies – four to be precise – for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after a 40-year drought in treatment advances for this deadly blood c...
Advances in cancer research seem to be occurring at dizzying speed these days. In just the past three years, we’ve seen a plethora of new therapies approved to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma. And the rapidly advancing field of cancer immunotherapy has produced several novel approaches to treat cancer patients by activating their own immune systems to fight the cancer. Meanwhile, as we learn more about the underlying causes of cancer, scientists are ...
In April we featured a Q&A in this blog with LLS-funded researcher Anthony Letai, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who discussed in his work leading to clinical trials of a drug called venetoclax (Venclexta ®) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The drug was FDA approved in April for a high-risk form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). AML is a deadly blood cancer that has seen no change in the standard of care in 40 years. More than 20,000 people a year are diagnosed with A...
David Traver, Ph.D., a professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, is the recipient of an LLS Career Development Program (CDP) grant. Traver’s research laboratory is using the zebrafish as a model to study the biology of cancer. Most of his team’s studies are aimed at understanding how the hematolymphoid system arises in the zebrafish embryo from the first hematopoietic stem cells. The zebrafish system offers easy visualization of blood cel...
Not only has Irene Ghobrial, M.D. dedicated her professional life to finding lifesaving treatments for cancer, but over the past few months she has dedicated her leisure time to training for a half marathon in Alaska, to raise funds for cancer research. Ghobrial has trained with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training (TNT), the non-profit’s endurance training program. Ghobrial, a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) physician-scientist, has been closely affiliated ...
Ronald Levy, professor of medicine and former chief of the Division of Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine, helped develop and test the first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved monoclonal antibody against cancer for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma. Rituximab is now a standard of treatment alone and also in combination with chemotherapy regimens. Levy is receiving LLS funding through the Translational Research Program for research into an immunotransplant...
Speaking from the heart, Vice President Joseph Biden addressed thousands of cancer researchers today in a packed hall at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (#ASCO16) annual meeting in Chicago, to tout his Cancer Moonshot initiative. The theme of this year’s #ASCO16 meeting, “Collective Wisdom – The Future of Patient-Centered Care and Research,” is perfectly aligned with the goals of the Moonshot, Biden told the rapt audience.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (#ASCO16) annual meeting featured several significant oral scientific presentations on the blood cancers over the weekend here in Chicago. CPX-351: A session on hematological malignancies Saturday afternoon included a discussion of final data from the Phase 3 clinical trial of Celator’s drug CPX-351 (Vyxeos ®). LLS invested substantially in this study through our Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP). The study was in a small subset of elderly pati...
