FDA's CTL019 Ruling Validates Importance of Similar Lifesaving Cellular Immunotherapies Currently Being Developed and Tested by Fred Hutch and Other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
In a landmark decision for the field of cancer immunotherapy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a personalized cellular therapy developed by the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for the treatment of patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that is refractory or in second or later relapse.
With a $1.16 million cooperative agreement from the CDC, NIDA, SAMHSA and the Appalachian Regional Commission, April Young, researcher with the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, will partner with communities to conduct research to address the opioid epidemic in 12 Eastern Kentucky counties.
A scientist at Sanford Research studying lung development and disease in premature babies has received a $2,041,195 grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Peter Vitiello, Ph.D., will study how molecular pathways contribute to lung development and disease in premature babies.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center reversed age-related memory loss in mice by boosting blood levels of osteocalcin, a hormone produced by bone cells.
The more the surface area of the body is covered by psoriasis, the greater the risk of death for the patient suffering from the condition, according to a new analysis by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Patients with psoriasis on 10 percent or more of their body are at almost double the risk of death.
Weizmann Institute scientists find that self-assembling protein complexes based on a single mutation could provide scaffolding for nanostructures
Doctors believe there is some good to be found in nicotine, the highly addictive drug in tobacco products. Lung experts at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are testing whether nicotine can help people with a chronic inflammatory lung disease called sarcoidosis.
Researchers successfully used a gene that suppresses cholesterol levels as part of a treatment to reduce plaque in mice with a disorder called familial hypercholesterolemia. In a preclinical study, researchers found that the gene, LeXis, lowered cholesterol and blockages in the arteries, and the treatment appeared to reduce the build-up of fat in liver cells.
Biomedical engineering researchers will attack two banes of cardiovascular disease — heart failure after heart attacks and the scourge of resistant high blood pressure — with $4.8 million in National Institutes of Health grants that begin this fall.
The August tip sheet from Fred Hutch includes stories on breast cancer, skin cells as a cancer repair mechanism, an HIV prevention study, air pollution risk and more -- Here are quick summaries for journalists that offer sources and story ideas from Fred Hutch.
Two studies provide additional support for lowering systolic blood pressure to an intensive goal of 120 mmHg – far below the standard guidelines of 140 mmHg – to reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients with hypertension. The new research shows that intensive blood pressure control is well-tolerated by patients and is cost-effective in terms of health-related quality of life and financial costs to the healthcare system, and appears online in NEJM on Aug. 24.
A fast, simple blood test for ulcerative colitis using infrared spectroscopy could provide a cheaper, less invasive alternative for screening compared to colonoscopy, which is now the predominant test, according to a study between the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.
A new trial plans to identify patients at urban hospitals who are at risk of hypertension and use text messages to help them reduce their blood pressure and obtain follow-up care.
“People are living longer with type 1 diabetes, and the onset of complications is taking longer,” says Hillary Keenan, Ph.D., a Joslin Diabetes Center Assistant Investigator and co-Principal Investigator on the Joslin 50-Year Medalist Study.
Harvard Medical School researchers have identified the mechanism behind red blood cell specialization. Their findings could spark the development of new treatments for blood disorders and cancers.
In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood and have used it to accurately identify more than half of 138 people with relatively early-stage colorectal, breast, lung and ovarian cancers.
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center began helping New Mexicans with blood disorders a little more than one year ago. It is the state’s only bone marrow transplant program. The program offers treatment choices for people with lymphoma and myeloma and will expand to help people with other blood disorders.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic have compiled peer-reviewed evidence and crafted a guideline designed to help physicians and medical centers stop the use of a widely ordered blood test that adds no value in evaluating patients with suspected heart attack.
Automatic blood pressure devices are often used to assess blood pressure levels at home and in the clinic. But these devices are prone to significant errors, sometimes leading to the prescription of blood pressure-lowering medications to patients who don’t actually need them. Israeli researchers have developed a method to more accurately measure systolic blood pressure. They will present their findings at the Cardiovascular Aging: New Frontiers and Old Friends conference in Westminster, Colo.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have found that cells of a deadly acute myeloid leukemia can be killed by blocking production of a molecular “battery.”
Common anti-allergy medicines could prove to be an effective treatment for potentially fatal blood clots in the legs, according to new research by the University of Birmingham.
Lollapalooza performer Jidenna, a Wondaland artist, will visit patients in the UI Health Sickle Cell Center on Aug. 3. AllOneBlood, a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to empowering people suffering from sickle cell and eradicating the disease, is organizing the visit.
If S. aureus is going to drink our blood like a vampire, let's kill it with sunlight
Researchers from McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have discovered that the symptoms of diabetes can be induced by a misfolded form of a pancreatic protein. The findings, which are reported in a paper to be published August 1 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, raise the possibility that type 2 diabetes can be transmitted by a mechanism similar to prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease).
Press can register here to livestream this special session through Newswise Live on Monday, July 31 at 7:30 PM EDT
A new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that testing for the presence of orthostatic hypotension, a form of low blood pressure, be performed within one minute of standing after a person has been lying down. Current guidelines recommend taking the measurement three minutes after a person stands up.
Using the gene editing technology CRISPR, scientists have shed light on a rare, sometimes fatal syndrome that causes children to gradually lose the ability to manufacture vital blood cells. The research, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, suggests new lines of investigation into how to treat this condition — dyskeratosis congenita — which is characterized by shortened telomeres. Short telomeres lead to progressive DNA damage that accumulates over time.
After seeing promising results in phase 1 of the Pediatric Leukemia Adoptive Therapy (PLAT-02) trial with 93 percent of patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) achieving complete initial remission, researchers at Seattle Children’s are continuing their quest to improve the experimental therapy and reduce the rate of relapse, which is about 50 percent. Researchers have now opened a phase 1 clinical trial, PLAT-04, for children and young adults with relapsed or refractory CD22-positive ALL.
Aggressive combination treatments for high blood pressure that are intended to protect the kidneys may actually be damaging the organs.
A saliva test developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health nearly matches the performance of a blood test widely used to assess recent or past hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection, a new study reports.
A new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that measures of amyloid beta in the blood have the potential to help identify people with altered levels of amyloid in their brains or cerebrospinal fluid. Currently, the only way to detect amyloid beta in the brain is via PET scanning or a spinal tap.
Researchers have found cell receptors abnormally overexpressed in post-mortem brains of those with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and that they can be inhibited in animal models to clear toxic protein buildup, reduce brain inflammation, and improve cognitive performance.
• In hemodialysis patients, hypothyroidism was linked with impairments across multiple areas of health-related quality of life, including lower energy and greater fatigue, poorer physical function, and greater pain.
Physicians should consider blood testing of female adolescents for iron deficiency within a few years of starting menses, according to two studies by Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
A newly identified biomarker panel could pave the way to earlier detection and better treatment for pancreatic cancer. Currently over 53,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer -- the fourth leading cause of cancer death -- every year. The blood biomarkers correctly detected pancreatic cancer in blood samples from patients at different stages of their disease.
Chemicals found in everyday plastics materials are linked to cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure in men, according to Australian researchers.
Johns Hopkins physicians report success in a small study of a modified skin biopsy that hastens the earlier diagnosis of an inherited and progressively fatal nerve disease and seems to offer a clearer view of the disorder’s severity and progression. With a quicker and less invasive way to visualize the hallmark protein clumps of the rare but lethal disease — familial transthyretin amyloidosis — the researchers say they hope to more rapidly advance clinical trials of treatments that may slow the disease and extend patients’ lives.
A new treatment rapidly removes the oral blood thinner dabigatran (PRADAXA®) from circulation within minutes, allowing life-saving clots to form normally
Jeffrey W. Taub, M.D., FAAP, chief, Division of Oncology, at the DMC's Children’s Hospital of Michigan was the principal investigator of the study, which enrolled 204 children from 2007-2011 through the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), an international organization which links all major pediatric oncology centers in the U.S., Canada and other countries to develop treatments for children with cancer.
An international team of hematologists including Guy Young, MD, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has found that in patients with hemophilia A with inhibitors, a novel therapy called emicizumab, decreases incidence of bleeding episodes by 87%.
ROCHESTER, Minn. — For patients with diabetes, one reason for hospitalization and unplanned hospital readmission is severe dysglycemia (uncontrolled hyperglycemia – high blood sugar, or hypoglycemia – low blood sugar), says new research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Charting the genomic landscape of T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients revealed insights that will guide research and help to lay the foundation for more targeted therapy.
• Most bloodstream infections in dialysis patients continue to occur in those with central venous catheters used to access their blood. The findings come from 2014 data from US dialysis facilities. • Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly isolated pathogen that caused bloodstream infections, and in many cases they were antibiotic-resistant.
Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, describes the type of clots that can form in blood vessels of the arms or legs. Sometimes they can travel to the lungs, creating serious complications or even death.
Nicole F. Steinmetz, PhD, director of the Center for Bio-Nanotechnology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, has received two major grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop microscopic drug-delivery systems for patients living with breast cancer, and patients at risk for serious blood clots.
• In individuals with chronic kidney disease, targeting a systolic blood pressure to <120 mm Hg resulted in lower risks of cardiovascular events and premature death, compared with standard targeting to <140 mm Hg. • There was a slightly faster decline in kidney function in the intensive group, but no increase in rates of kidney failure or serious adverse events.
Wolters Kluwer, a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry, and the European Hematology Association (EHA) are pleased to announce the launch a new open access journal, HemaSphere. Part of the Lippincott portfolio, the journal was launched today at the 22nd Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association in Madrid.
HIV-positive women with CMV in their urine at the time of labor and delivery are more than five times likelier than HIV-positive women without CMV to transmit HIV to their infants. The research also found that they are nearly 30 times likelier to transmit CMV to their infants.