Cancer patients who receive drugs such as Neupogen and Neulasta, which stimulate the growth of white blood cells, may be less likely to die from chemotherapy-related complications, according to researchers at the University of Rochester and Duke.

This study examined 17 trials involving more than 3,000 patients receiving chemotherapy. The researchers found that nearly 40 percent of patients who did not receive the drugs developed fever and low white blood cell levels called febrile neutropenia compared to only 22 percent who took the drugs while taking the chemotherapy.

The researchers published these findings in the July 20, 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The work was being conducted by the Awareness of Neutropenia in Chemotherapy (ANC) Study Group, a network of investigators whose work is unrestrictedly funded by Amgen, the maker of a commonly utilized white blood cell booster that goes by the names Neupogen and Neulasta.

Chemotherapy sent my blood counts spiraling on two separate occasions. Both times I landed in the hospital. And during my second stay, it took several daily injections of Neupogen -- a growth factor immunity drug -- to push my white blood counts from a low 1,200 to a whopping 58,000.

The only side effect I suffered as a result of this drug was aching bones and joints. This was temporary and not such a big deal. What might be a big deal for breast cancer survivors like me, however, is the result of a new study suggesting there may be a risk of leukemia from these immunity boosting drugs.

These drugs, G-CSF (such as Neupogen) and GM-CSF (such as Leukine) may cause rare cases of leukemia, says Columbia University's Dawn Hersmand whose study is published in yesterday's Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

It's already been established that chemotherapy itself can cause leukemia. And Hersmand's study showed 1.04 percent of women who did not receive growth factors developed leukemia from chemotherapy alone. But 1.77 percent of women treated with G-CSF or GM-CSF developed the disease. While the drugs appear to statistically double the risk, the actual risk still remains quite small. And researchers say the benefits of the drug right now outweigh the risks.