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After a chance observation in the lab, researchers found a method that can force dangerous leukemia cells in the lab to mature into harmless immune cells called macrophages. Mar 16 2015 Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that when a certain aggressive leukemia is causing havoc in the body, the solution may be to force the cancer cells to grow up and behave. After a chance observation in the lab, the researchers found a method that can cause dangerous leukemia cells to mature into harmless immune cells known as macrophages. The findings are described in a...

"Sam" was 8 years old, and he had become quite a grouchy, old cat. He was still gentle and wanted petting, feeding and watering, but he acted like he had a tooth ache and he had bad breath. The vet said there was no known cure for the virus infection, Feline Leukemia and that it was VERY infectious to other animals. Her said that he probably got it in a fight with another infected cat, or that it could be caught by drinking or eating from the same water bowl or feed bowl that another infected animal used. I...

The Philadelphia Eagles, in conjunction with Ronald McDonald House, have made the day for Colin Delaney, a 15-year-old battling leukemia. The Eagles gave the former middle school fullback a one-day contract and invited him to sit on the bench for Sunday night's game with the division rival New York Giants. Delaney was given his contract by Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who presented the teen with a No. 1 jersey with his name on it.

Isabela Munoz of Oakley, Calif., left, talks with her sister, Jasmine, about an upcoming trip to Rome. Isabela donated her bone marrow to help Jasmine survive leukemia. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Jasmine will realize a dream when she and her family travel to Rome in April to see the Vatican and attend Pope Francis' general audience. (CNS photo/Jose Luis Aguirre, The Catholic Voice)OAKLAND, Calif. - Jasmine Munoz could have met Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, gone to a beach or taken a cruise, but the 12-year-old leukemia survivor would rather see the Vatican and meet Pope Francis. Thanks to...

Delaney "Laney" Ann Brown died on Christmas from complications from leukemia, five days after her 8th birthday. It was on her birthday, Dec. 20, that Brown made headlines when she received a phone call from Taylor Swift, who had heard about Brown's struggle with leukemia through Make- A-Wish America. Brown lived in West Reading, Pennsylvania, just down the road from Reading, where Swift was born. The pair had a conversation via Facetime, so they could see each other while they spoke; and judging from a post on Facebook, fulfilling the "bucket list" item put a smile on the young girl's...

A recent series of spectacular medical cases has electrified researchers around the world—cases in which therapy has allowed the HIV patient to permanently keep the virus under control. In 2009, doctors at Berlin’s Charité Hospital reported on a HIV-positive man named Timothy Ray Brown, known as the Berlin patient, who received a bone-marrow stem-cell transplant as treatment for leukemia. The donor was, thanks to genetics, immune to HIV—and the immunity seemed to have passed to Brown, who no longer needed antiretroviral therapy to control the HIV. Doctors eventually declared him cured. In 2013, doctors at Harvard Medical School reported similar...

WITHIN just eight days of starting a novel gene therapy, David Aponte's "incurable" leukaemia had vanished. For four other patients, the same happened within eight weeks, although one later died from a blood clot unrelated to the treatment, and another after relapsing. The cured trio, who were all previously diagnosed with usually fatal relapses of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, have now been in remission for between 5 months and 2 years. Michel Sadelain of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, co-leader of the group that designed the trial, says that a second trial of 50 patients is being readied,...

Genetically engineered immune cells can drive an aggressive type of leukaemia into retreat, a small clinical trial suggests. The results of the trial — done in five patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia — are published in Science Translational Medicine1 and represent the latest success for a 'fringe' therapy in which a type of immune cell called T cells are extracted from a patient, genetically modified, and then reinfused back. In this case, the T cells were engineered to express a receptor for a protein on other immune cells, known as B cells, found in both healthy and cancerous tissue. When...

Emma Brooke-Whitehead had undergone extended chemotherapy without success when doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia decided to try the groundbreaking new treatment about eight months ago. "This treatment was really her only chance," pediatric oncologist Stephen Grupp told ABC News. The treatment works by using a disabled version of HIV to retrain a patient's disease-fighting white blood cells to kill cancer cells.

A gene therapy that uses infusions of patients’ own T cells genetically engineered to attack their tumors enjoyed its first successful and sustained demonstration of clinical-trial success in nine of 12 leukemia patients—two of whom have been in remission for more than two years. The therapy was pioneered by the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, whose researchers will present latest results from the study today at the American Society of Hematology (ASH)'s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta.According to Penn Perelman, the results pave the way for a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of these types of...

MENIFEE (CBSLA.com) — A Menifee man who has confronted challenges as both a marine and law enforcement officer is now facing the biggest battle of his life. Sal Aguirre and his wife, Kristi, have three children: teenagers Keira and Cheyene and 10-year-old Jacob. “They’re doing good. It’s hard,” Kristi says through tears. Sal has AML5 or acute monocytic leukemia. So far, chemotherapy is doing the job. He’s in remission, and he’s a fighter. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and now, he’s a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy. Heading to work last May 9, he called his wife. He said...

Nora Ephron, the writer and director of American film classics such as "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle," died today at the age of 71.

My wife of 54 years has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. she enters the hospital Monday to begin treatment. The doctor says she will be in the hospital for a month.

<p>A national drug shortage is threatening to disrupt cancer therapy for 24-year-old Tammie Miura and at least 100 Hawaii patients who use the medicine as a main source of treatment.</p> <p>Hospital officials nationwide are fearful that the drug, methotrexate — a crucial medicine in the treatment of childhood cancers — will be exhausted within the next two weeks after a major supplier stopped producing it in November. Hawaii has not yet seen a shortage because local hospitals typically stock up on the drug, though medical providers and patients are worried that could soon change.</p>

When you hear the term “stem cells”, what comes to mind? Religious controversy? Ethical debate? embryonic stem cell research? These associations are common, and unfortunately could be limiting how often stem cells are donated for use as a life-saving transplant. Many people equate stem cells with embryonic stem cell research but non-embryonic (or adult) stem cells are different and they’re used every day in modern medicine to save lives. Furthermore, to date, embryonic stem cells have not been used for many human therapeutic purposes.Nearly everyone knows someone that has had or needed a bone marrow transplant, but did you know...

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. "Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health...

Fukushima: Japanese produce linked to newscaster's cancer Date: 13 November 2011 Posted By : Special to The Canadian A Japanese newscaster who usually reports the news, has now made the news in Japan. Norikazu Otsuka, a Japanese TV newscaster, has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is now hospitalized, getting ready for chemo. He felt a strange lump in his neck on October 28, he says. -- Various news sources including: Zakzak 11/7/2011, Yomiuri Shinbun 11/6/2011 have also filed reports. “In his morning program on Fuji TV he’s been promoting Fukushima produce by eating them in the show. He...

In February of this year my older brother went to the hospital due to severe pain and swelling in one leg. Those doctors could not figure out what was causing the pain and swelling, so they sent him home to see his own doctor. His doctor could not figure out the problem either; mean while his other leg started hurting. He was sent to Houston for yet another set of test; still no results. His doctor and the doctors in Houston tried different treatments (medicine) to treat his pain. By this time he has used up his vacation, sick leave...

Spanish researchers found that 22 of 24 healthy people (92 per cent) developed an immune response to HIV after being given their MVA-B vaccine. Professor Mariano Esteban, head researcher on the project at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid, said of the jab: "It is like showing a picture of the HIV so that it is able to recognise it if it sees it again in the future." The injection contains four HIV genes which stimulate T and B lymphocytes, which are types of white blood cells. Prof Esteban explained: "Our body is full of lymphocytes, each of them programmed...

Modified ecstasy could one day have a role to play in fighting some blood cancers, according to scientists. Ecstasy is known to kill some cancer cells, but scientists have increased its effectiveness 100-fold, they said in Investigational New Drugs journal. Their early study showed all leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma cells could be killed in a test tube, but any treatment would be a decade away. A charity said the findings were a "significant step forward". In 2006, a research team at the University of Birmingham showed that ecstasy and anti-depressants such as Prozac had the potential to stop cancers growing....