According to researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, congestive heart failure rarely occurs among leukemia patients who take Gleevec (imatinib).

The study was led by Dr. Jorge Cortes who said that there is no need for routine cardio-specific monitoring of all patients taking imatinib, although those with cardiac history should be close monitored. In a separate paper lasat year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reported that imatinib may be cardio-toxic in humans.

Imatinib targets two members of the tyrosine kinase class of enzymes and a hybrid tyrosine kinase known to cause chronic myologenous leukemia (CML) and Ph-postive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Before imatinib, only about half of CML patients survived five years. Now the five year survival rate is 95 percent.

I recently read this article, which states that children undergoing leukemia treatment generally have lower than average marks in school, particularly those who underwent cranial radiation. This was not because they missed school from being in a hospital -- they were provided with education whether at home or in the hospital. Still, the results are a relief to researchers because the majority of children who had undergone treatment did complete their basic education, albeit with a bit more difficulty than their healthy peers.

What do you think about this? I'm no education expert, but I think it's important that kids with leukemia should have some sort of extra educational help available to them -- maybe a tutoring program that can help them in the learning process. Afterall, they've gone through enough with their illness -- they shouldn't have to suffer through the humiliation of falling behind in class too.

We often hear of cancer heroes that make it a mission in the last years of life to educate the world about cancer while making enormous changes to the way certain segments of society view the disease. But, rarely are these heroes young kids.

12-year-old Pat Pedraja stands as one of these heroic children, as he has been busy trying to educate the public and even kids (among others) to make changes to the bone marrow registry in the U.S. so that those who need bone marrow transplants have access to needed donations. Pedraja has leukemia and is half-Hispanic as well.

It's quite comforting to hear mature words like "people are dying each day ... and I want to change that" come from a 12-year-old, but there you have it. Pedraja convinced his family to pack it up and drive across the U.S. in order to encourage children of donating age to give up some bone marrow for those that need it.

Researchers from Ohio State University, Columbus, led by Daniolo Perrotti, have shown that a drug known as FTY720 prevents disease in a mouse model of many leukemias caused by BCR-ABL. Nearly all cases of chronic myeloid leukemia [CML-BC] and some cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia [ALL] are caused by changes to BCR-ABL. The drug also caused cells from human cell lines to die in vitro.
FTY720 does not directly target the BCR-ABL kinase, but instead activates phosphatase 2A (PP2A) which is a tumor suppressor that is inactivated by BCR-ABL. There were no adverse effects seen in the mice and no adverse effects in clinical trials for multiple sclerosis.

The authors believe that this study shows strong support for the use of FTY720 as a novel therapeutic for CML and ALL that is not responsive to current treatments with kinase inhibitors.

Bill Walsh, builder of an NFL dynasty with his 49ers of the 1980s, died of leukemia Monday at his San Francisco Bay. Walsh, known as The Genius for his innovative, pass-oriented attack, was 75.

Walsh was 102-63-1 with the 49ers and won three Super Bowls and six divisional titles in just 10 years. He was named Coach of the Year in 1981 and 1984 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. He served twice as the 49ers' general manager and coached at Stanford after leaving the 49ers.

"His coaching accomplishments speak for themselves, but the essence of Bill Walsh was he was an extraordinary teacher," says NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. "If you gave him a blackboard and a piece of chalk, he would become a whirlwind of wisdom. He revolutionized the game with his offense and will always be remembered as one of the most influential people in NFL history."

Tom Synder, host of NBC's The Tomorrow Show passed away on Sunday from leukemia. Synder told the world on his webpage in 2005 that he had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The Tomorrow show aired in 1972 after The Tonight show with Johnny Carson. In 1995 he returned to late night TV starring in The Late Late show with Tom Synder.

His longtime producer and friend Mike Horowicz said "He was a great guy and very talented".

Leukemia rates in children and young people are higher near nuclear facilities, according to a review published in the July issue of the European Journal of Cancer Care.

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina performed a meta-analysis on 17 papers covering 136 nuclear sites around the world, including the UK, Canada, France, the USA, Germany, Japan and Spain.

They found that death rates for children up to the age of nine were elevated by between five and 24 percent, dependent on their distance to the nuclear facility. For children and young people up to the age of 25, the increase was from two to 18 percent.

However, the researchers note that there weren't excess rates very close to the facilities according to the dose-response studies that they analyzed.

We have written here at the cancer blog about Courtney Nicole a few times. You can find posts here and here. Courtney passed way about eight months ago. Her mom still keeps a journal of what is going on in her life and how she is coping with the loss of her nineteen year old daughter.

I find myself going to her site often to see how she is doing. It is heartbreaking to read her words at times and encouraging at other times. She is trying to go on -- but how, without her daughter?

Recently, Court's mom posted Its Like a Scab! on her website. Here's what she said:

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in adults. According to the National Cancer Society an estimated 60,000 people are living throughout the United States with CLL.

An article published in The Lancet stated that the chemotherapy combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan improves progression free survival compared to therapy consisting of Fludara alone. The drugs used to treat CLL consist of Fludara, Cytoxan and chlorambucil. Recent studies have shown that Fludara in combination with Cytoxan to be the most effective treatment for CLL.

Researchers wanted to test to see if higher anticancer responses were seen with the combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan, treatment with Fludara alone or treatment with chlorambucil.

The two little girls who recently fashioned their own cardboard lemonade stand and sold their homemade refreshments for 50 cents a cup are not your typical lemonade entrepreneurs. What makes them stand out from the usual crowd of lemonade peddlers? These girls -- Emily is four and Lily is six -- are both cancer patients, undergoing chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and raising money for cancer research.

The two met last year at the Omaha Children's Hospital cancer clinic. Their mothers became fast friends, worked together on a neighborhood garage sale, and invited the little girls to set up a lemonade stand. The idea came from the story of another little girl, diagnosed with cancer just before her first birthday, who at age four opened her own stand with the goal of raising $1 million for her hospital. Only days before she died did she realize she would reach her goal.

How did Emily and Lily do? The totals are not yet in -- but they did raise $70 right away on the first day of the sale. And they reportedly had a grand time running their business.

Young patients that are diagnosed with a form of leukemia called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are at an increased risk of relapse if they have a high body mass index at the time of diagnosis.

Dr. Anna M. Butturini, lead investigator of a study that reported the findings, said "Obesity is associated with lower probability of cure in pre-adolescents and teenagers with ALL. A current analysis suggests that the same is true for adults with the same disease".

Dr. Butturini thinks that there is a need for better understanding of why obese patients have an increased risk of relapse. If this is found out, then better therapies for these young patients could be potentially designed.

Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas, a three-term Republican who had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia, died on Monday evening at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was 74.

Thomas, a five-year veteran of the Wyoming Legislature, was hospitalized for pneumonia just before the 2006 election and had to cancel his final campaign stops. Still, he monitored the election from his hospital bed and won with 70 percent of the vote. Two days after the election, Thomas announced he had just been diagnosed with cancer.

After his first round of chemotherapy, Thomas returned to the Senate in December. He felt better than ever and returned to the hospital in May for his second round of treatment.

Arsenic trioxide sold under the brand name Trisenox, is approved for patients with a rare leukemia named acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

APL is a form of acute myeloid leukemia, about 1,500 people are diagnosed every year with this rare disease. Standard treatment involves chemotherapy and a form of vitamin A -- alltrans retinoic acid. This therapy helps about 70-80 percent of patient gain long term-remissions. About 25 percent of patients do relapse and are no longer responsive to treatment.These patients often are treated with arsenic trioxide.

A study was sponsored by The National Cancer Institute to see if the addition of arsenic trioxide along with the standard therapy for first line treatment would prove better survival rates.

Young Noah Maxin , just 11, died last week after losing his battle with leukemia. Such news would be sad enough were it not for the fact that Noah's parents had previously interrupted his chemotherapy regime with a holistic approach to cure his cancer. Noah's parents were concerned about the adverse effects that chemotherapy would take on Noah's body and instead sought alternative therapies.

While alternative therapies do have their place and can help, there are some instances when Western medicine should be respected. Cancer, I believe, is one of these. I have known a number of friends who have followed a chemotherapy schedule while using alternative therapies as supplemental support. The efforts have given them wonderful results. But I do question the wisdom of gambling with a child's life and ignoring Western medicine all together. In the case of Noah it seems his parents took a chance and lost their son. Would he have perished had they pursued traditional chemo for him? Nobody can tell, but now his parents will always be plagued with the question of what if?

Drugs currently in trials for obesity and diabetes may soon be fast-tracked for use in the fight against breast cancer. Typically, it takes many years to research and develop new drugs. But these already-developed drugs, if successful, could reach the market much quicker.

The drugs, believed to work by blocking the enzyme PTP1B, could help breast cancer patients because the enzyme is found in high levels in about 40 percent of these patients.

Studies on mice show blocking production of the enzyme significantly slowed tumor development. In some cases, it stopped the spread of the cancer and it might even stop some tumors from forming.