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FEATURED
ARTICLE
Donor
Story
The estate of Robert
and Anita Mitchell of Chevy Chase has donated
more than $1 million to LLS. Robert was a
lymphoma survivor. Feature about this couple as
told by the executrix of the estate, Margaret
Whyte, a cousin of the
couple
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FUNDRAISING
UPDATES
Light The Night
Corporate Team and Walk Chair profile- Quest
Diagnostics and the Connecticut
Chapter
Dana Gennarelli, HR
for Quest Diagnostics in CT is an ALL survivor
and the Quest Diagnostics team captain; Diane
LaFond is the corporate walk chair. Quest
Diagnostics is making a $5,000
donation and fielding a walk team
READ
MORE
School &
YouthSM Final
Results
And the winner is Oak
Point Intermediate School
in Minnesota
READ
MORE
Team In Training®
Results of Country
Music Marathon and St. Anthony's
Triathlon
READ
MORE
Elli Wolpe, wife of Rabbi Wolpe, trains
for San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon to honor
her husband's battle with lymphoma
READ
MORE
Living a
Miracle
Survivor Debbie Gill's
book about surviving ALL is being promoted on
the LLS.org e-store and proceeds of sale of book
benefiting LLS READ
MORE
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PATIENT
SERVICES
Camp Sunshine holds
pediatric cancer programs, and the social worker
from the camp is doing an LLS teleconference on
pediatric issues
READ MORE
LLS Helps
Patients Find Clinical Trials READ
MORE
LLS Reaching Out to Different Cultures
and Ethnic Groups READ
MORE
Upcoming Telephone Education
Programs READ
MORE
Featured Materials
READ
MORE
RESEARCH
This month, eNewsline
introduces the work of David Allman, Ph.D.
READ MORE
LLS-funded
Translational Research Program grantee Katherine
Borden, has results of a clinical trial to be
published in upcoming "Blood"
READ MORE
ADVOCACY
Sen. Specter Proposes
"Cures Acceleration Network"
READ MORE
FROM THE
LLS BLOG READ MORE
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A
Couple Touched by Cancer During Their Lives
Gives Back Through Their
Estate
During their 60 years of marriage, Robert
and Anita Mitchell of Chevy Chase, MD., filled
their lives with world travel and culture, a
shared love of gardening, and a deep interest in
historical and architectural preservation. The
couple, both of whom died in 2008, was touched
by blood cancer, as were several other family
members. This is why their cousin, Margaret
Whyte, of Fulton, MD, the executrix of their
estate and the widow of a cancer patient, has
chosen to make a gift of more than $1.25 million
from their estate to The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society (LLS).
 "The family had
quite an interest in blood cancers," said Whyte,
"I chose The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,
because I knew that it was a very fine
organization and so many in
our family have been affected by blood cancer.
The Mitchell's donated to LLS frequently over
the years and were very supportive of its
research and direct treatment
programs."
Robert Mitchell was a lymphoma
survivor and several of Anita Mitchell's
relatives were blood cancer patients.
Whyte said her own mother died of Hodgkin
lymphoma, her husband died of stomach cancer,
and she also had a brother-in-law who died of
leukemia.
Robert Mitchell, 92 when he
died, only 38 days after his wife, had been
retired from the Department of the Navy, where
he was a designer of weaponry as a naval ordance
systems command requirement supervisor. He
and his wife had served in the Army Air Force
during World War II. Anita Mitchell, 90 when she
died, was a former Department of State analyst,
and spent many of her retirement years as a
docent at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
in Washington, D.C. Both alumni of George
Washington University, they shared a keen
interest in aeronautics and space exploration.
The Mitchell's had no children, but many
close relatives, including Whyte. They donated
to many charities, but The Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society was especially dear to them,
Whyte said.
Bequests of any size are
welcomed by LLS. To learn more about
donating to LLS, please visit
www.lls.org/donate.
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Quest
Diagnostics Lights The
Night
Dana Gennarelli was just nine when she
was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia.
"It was a tough journey," she said. "I was on a
protocol they don't even use any more because it
was too intense. Pretty much it was my attitude
that got me through."
Gennarelli, human
resources generalist for Quest Diagnostics
business unit in Wallingford, CT, says she
learned something about determination when she
was battling her disease into remission as a
child.
Now 27, Gennarelli will
lead her company's Light The Night® Walk team this
October as Quest Diagnostics' walk team captain in New Haven, CT, and
she is confident that her colleagues will come
out strongly for The
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)
.
Quest
Diagnostics, the world's leading diagnostic
testing, information and services company is a
national supporting sponsor of Light The Night
Walk, LLS's annual fundraising event each fall
to raise money for cancer research and patient
services. LLS holds walks each fall in
approximately 230 communities across the United
States and Canada. Participants at the walks
carry illuminated balloons - white for
survivors, red for supporters, and gold to
remember.
Quest Diagnostics employees
chose LLS as their National Charity through
2010. Through Quest Diagnostics' employee
volunteer program "reach!" (remember every act
can help!), Quest business units around the
country are working directly with LLS chapters
on local fundraising programs and Light The
Night sponsorship activities.
The
Wallingford team is a great example.
In
addition to providing $5,000 Light The Night
sponsorship to LLS, the Quest Diagnostics
Wallingford Team will conduct a variety of
fundraisers including plant sales, Light The
Night teddy bear sales, back to school lunch
boxes and a summer softball
game.
Gennarelli will work hand-in-hand
with Quest Diagnostics's Light The Night
corporate walk chair, Diane LaFond, customer
service and quality effectiveness director. Most
recently, Diane did a fundraising "spin" to
raise money for cancer awareness. When asked to
be the corporate walk chair she simply said,
"I'm so excited and honored!"
"We are so
appreciative of Quest Diagnostics
' support," said Jean Montano,
executive director of LLS's Connecticut Chapter.
"Dana and Diane are both so enthusiastic and I
know they'll do a great job of getting their
colleagues out to help raise awareness and bring
hope to people touched by blood cancer."
To learn more about Light The Night Walk
visit www.lightthenightwalk.org.
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top
 One Little Penny...One
Big Difference
In a program that
gives kids a chance to help other kids, students
at Oak Point Intermediate School in Eden
Prairie, MN, raised an incredible $42,858
through Pennies for Patients, one of The
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) School
& Youth Programs.
This was $20,000
more than the school raised last year. The money
will help fund LLS's research and patient
services initiatives.
Oak Point was not
the only school across the country to have an
extremely successful campaign. The other four
top fundraising schools were: Princeton High
School in Cincinnati, Ohio ($38,378); Mt. Pisgah
Christian School in Johns Creek, Ga. ($32,830);
Chaska Middle School West in Chaska, MN
($29,240); and Orange High School in Orange,
Calif. ($28,000).
In Canada the results were also
astounding. Notre Dame Collegiate had set a goal
of raising $16,500 in honor of a classmate's
younger brother who had been diagnosed with
leukemia. They held a head-shaving event where
participating students had to raise at least
$250 each. In the end, 49 students and 10
staff and parents shaved their heads and the
total money raised was a historical
$52,000.
"It is so inspiring to see the
enthusiasm students bring to this program," said
Kristy Lysik, national director, School &
Youth Programs. "Pennies for Patients and
the other School & Youth Programs are all
about teaching children the value of community
service, and the students see that their
participation really makes a difference to
people who are touched by blood
cancers."
Nationally,
25,000 schools registered in the program for the
2008-09 school year, and LLS is projecting
results of more than $19 million
raised.
 Oak Point had a
special inspiration this year that gave the
students an extra incentive. One of their
teachers, Mona Hanson, was diagnosed with
lymphoma last December.
"The staff and
students really stepped up for her," said Oak
Point teacher Mark Wavinak, Pennies
advisor. The school was also visited by
Minnesota Vikings football player Kenechi Udeze,
who is a leukemia survivor. Another teacher lost
her mother to lymphoma this year. Wavinak
credits all the teachers and the whole community
with helping to motivate the students.
In addition to the penny drive, Oak
Point held a variety of creative fundraising
events. Local restaurants, including
Noodles, Fuddruckers and Domino's Pizza, held
special nights where families could eat and have
a portion of their bill donated to the Pennies
campaign.
"Pennies for Patients is no
longer just a school project but an entire Eden
Prairie community project," said Wavinak. "With
the economy the way it is this year, Eden
Prairie showed its generosity and how much they
care for others."
To learn more about
School & Youth Programs visit www.schoolandyouth.org.
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Team
In Training
 Country
Music Marathon and St. Anthony's Triathlon Make
April a Great Month for TNT
Team In
Training (TNT) had a big month with two popular
events taking place the same weekend: The
Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 25,
and St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg,
Fla., on April 26.
Team In Training had
619 participants at Country Music Marathon,
raising approximately $2 million to help fund
research and patient services; while 346 TNT
participants took part in St. Anthony's and
raised $1.7 million.
Rough water
conditions at St. Anthony's forced the
cancellation of the swim portion of the race but
that didn't dampen the spirits of participants,
such as mother-son duo Chris and Michael Cook,
both cancer survivors.
Michael Cook, 25
and a testicular cancer survivor, said being a
TNT participant has been incredibly rewarding.
Both he and his mother, Chris, a colon cancer
survivor, trained together for St. Anthony's as
well as the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City
Beach, Fla., which they completed on May 9.
"The experience has been so rewarding,"
says Michael. "We both feel honored to have been
part of a group like LLS's Team In
Training. We've reached more than $20,000
raised. When we crossed that finish line
at St. Anthony's and then again on May 9th it
felt so great, for one to finish our first
triathlons, but also to know that we finally
gave back."
Visit www.teamintraining.org to learn
more.
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top
 Wife of Illustrious Rabbi Takes
on Marathon to Help Find
Cures
Rabbi
David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles has
been named the #1 pulpit rabbi in America by
Newsweek
and is a world-renowned teacher, public speaker
and best-selling author (his newest book is "Why
Faith Matters" with a forward by Pastor Rick
Warren).
He was diagnosed in the
summer of 2006 with an incurable blood cancer,
follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and
successfully battled his disease into remission.
It was his second cancer: a few years earlier he
endured a 10-hour MRI-assisted brain surgery to
remove a benign tumor that presented with a
grand mal seizure, nearly taking his
life.
Now his wife, Eliana (Elli)
Wolpe, 43, a cancer survivor herself of eleven
years, is taking on a physical challenge of a
different sort. She has signed on with The
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In
Training (TNT) and is training for the San Diego
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on May 31, 2009. Elli is
raising funds to help find a cure for blood
cancers like her husband's non-Hodgkin
lymphoma. She has already surpassed her
goal of raising $100,000.
Elli
Wolpe is one of the many thousands of heroes who
participate in Team In Training each year,
hoping to help advance LLS's commitment to find
cures and better therapies for the more than
895,000 Americans currently living with a blood
cancer. LLS funded research that led to the
development of Rituxan, one of the drugs that
helped put and keep Rabbi Wolpe in remission.
Additionally, Elli is running in honor of a
friend, Jon, who is battling chronic lymphocytic
leukemia. Jon's primary oncologist is the
director of an LLS Specialized Center of
Research.
"For
the better part of the past eleven years, David
and I have been battling, living with or
recovering from cancer in one form or another.
Most recent was David's diagnosis of follicular
non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which has now been in
remission for two years," says Elli, "But being
in remission is not the same as being cured. So
I decided to do something proactive. I'm
training with The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society's Team in Training (TNT) to run the Rock
'n Roll Marathon in San Diego and raising money
that will go to research, clinical trials,
education and patient services for people like
David whose blood cancers are, at present,
incurable... I am running because I know what is
worth fighting for." http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/rnr09/elianawolpe
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the top
 New LLS
Partnership - Living a
Miracle
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
(LLS) is proud to announce a new partnership
with author and leukemia survivor Debbie Gill of
suburban Chicago. Gill's book, Living a
Miracle, shares her story from diagnosis
and treatment, to preparing for death, and
eventually, how to deal with life again. Gill is
generously donating 100% of the book's profits
to LLS.
The 43-year-old homemaker and
mother of four was diagnosed with acute
lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in 2001. For a while,
she was given a 1 percent chance of survival;
now, she is in complete remission and enjoying
an active life, including volunteering and
fundraising for LLS.
Living a
Miracle will be promoted on the LLS.org
e-Store and Special Offers page. To purchase a
copy of Living a Miracle, visit www.lulu.com.
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Celebrating 25 Years,
Camp Sunshine Features Pediatric
Cancer Programs in
June
Camp Sunshine http://www.campsunshine.org, dedicated to
supporting children with
life threatening illness and
their families, will hold several programs in
June focused specifically on children with
cancer. From June 21-26 the camp will hold an
oncology program, for all types of cancer
diagnoses, and from June 29-July 3, the theme is
hematology. 
Now celebrating its
25th anniversary,
the camp, nestled alongside
the shores of beautiful Sebago Lake, ME, Camp
Sunshine provides respite, support, joy and hope
to children with life-threatening illnesses and
their immed iate families
through various stages of a child's illness. The year-round
program is free of charge to all families, and
includes 24-hour onsite medical and psychosocial support.
Bereavement groups are also offered for families
who have lost a child to an
illness. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
(LLS) has been a long-time
sponsor of Camp Sunshine. The sessions give
families an opportunity to spend time
together as well as meet other
families facing similar challenges. In addition
to recreation activities, there are workshops
and counseling sessions.
Nancy Cincotta, MSW, LCSW,
ACSW, BCD, the psychosocial
director of Camp Sunshine, is hosting a free LLS
teleconference, Childhood Cancer
Survivorship: Challenges, Strategies,
Resources, Tuesday, May 26, discussing
some of the shared experiences for families who
are in "the club they never wanted to join"-
having a child with cancer. She will be
accompanying Daniel Armstrong, Ph.D., director
of Mailman Center for Child Development,
University of Miami, on the
call.
To learn more about this program
or to listen to the archive please visit:
Childhood Cancer Survivorship:
Challenges, Strategies,
Resources
Here are some additional
resources regarding pediatric cancer
survivorship:
Long-Term/Late Effects of
Treatment for Childhood Leukemia or
Lymphoma
Efectos a largo plazo y tardios
del tratamiento de la leucemia o el linfoma en
ninos
Back to School
Resources
Brochure about LLS programs
and materials to help manage children's return
to school.
Coping With Childhood Leukemia and
Lymphoma
Support and
guidance for talking to children; explores
issues facing families.
Como enfrentarse a la leucemia y
el linfoma en los ninos
Learning & Living With Cancer:
Advocating for your child's educational
needs
Aprender y vivir con cancer: En
defensa de las necesidades educativas de su hijo
Explains
the challenges of school re-entry and laws that
protect children's education.
Pictures of My Journey -
Activities for kids with cancer
Depicts
some experiences of children. Includes coloring,
games, puzzles, and jokes.
The Stem Cell Transplant Coloring
Book
For
children undergoing a stem cell transplant.
Postcards & door hanger.
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LLS Helps Patients Find
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are an
essential step in the pathway to drug
development and often provide critical treatment
options for patients. However, only 3 to 5
percent of all adults with cancer are currently
participating in clinical
trials.
There are
many barriers keeping patients from enrolling in
clinical trials, a significant one being lack of
health care coverage for "routine patient care
costs" for patients in clinical trials. Too
often, patients in clinical trials are denied
coverage for things like nursing services,
in-patient care and prescription drugs.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society (LLS) has been
working, state by state, to get this changed.
"Many people don't participate
in clinical trials because they can't afford
it," explains Lorna Johns, a chronic myelogenous
leukemia patient who has participated in several
different trials for CML treatments. After
several tries, Lorna finally found a treatment
that was right for her.
"For the past several years, I
have helped The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
(LLS) advocate for a bill that requires
insurance companies in Iowa to cover the routine
medical costs that go along with clinical
trials," says Lorna. "We hope to get that bill
passed this year."
To date 24 states and the
District of Columbia have either passed laws or
consensus agreements requiring private insurers
to cover routine care costs for patients
enrolling in clinical trials. Legislation has
also been introduced at the federal level, in
both the Senate and the House of
Representatives.
 Another
challenge for patients is simply finding
appropriate clinical trials, which is why
LLS offers TrialCheck
an online clinical trial search service that
offers patients and caregivers immediate access
to listings of all leukemia, lymphoma and
myeloma and related blood cancer clinical
trials. Answer just a few simple
questions
and a list of available clinical trials related
to your cancer will appear in an easy to read
list of search results. Patients can
contact LLS's Information Resource Center,
(800) 955-4572, where trained
specialists use TrialCheck to assist
patients with their search and provide
supportive services www.lls.org/callcenter .
"Clinical
Trials are an important treatment option and
should be considered at any point of a patient's
cancer journey," says Gina Russo, LCSW, director
of LLS's IRC. "The Information Resource Center
masters-level staff can assist patients in
conducting a detailed search, explain
eligibility criteria and explore associated
treatment costs with enrollment."
For more information
about clinical trials, LLS has the following
publications available:
Financial Health
Matters
Asuntos económicos de la atención
médica
This free booklet introduces some of the
major financial issues confronting people with
blood cancers and their families. The booklet
suggests resources, including insurance
information, financial resources and money
management, which may be helpful in relieving
fiscal stress and preserving financial health.
Understanding Clinical Trials for
Blood Cancers
This free booklet explains how new
treatments are developed, how clinical trials
help advance blood cancer treatments, how to
evaluate the benefits and risks of a clinical
trial for yourself, what questions to ask
to decide if a clinical trial is right for
you.
My
Clinical Trials Journey
LLS recently launched My
Clinical Trials Journey,
a free personalized and interactive program that
follows the stories and experiences of three
cancer survivors who have participated in
clinical trials: Steve, a CML survivor; Kim, a
lymphoma survivor; and Roger, a multiple myeloma
survivor.
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the top
 LLS Reaching Out to Different
Cultures and Ethnic Groups
The
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is taking
steps to assess the ways we communicate health
information to people of the many different
cultures and ethnic groups that we serve. The
goal of the initiative is to help reduce the
healthcare disparities associated with some
cultures or ethnicities.
LLS began field
testing our English-language basic booklets with
patients and family members in 2004. Recently,
LLS conducted a study about our basic
Spanish-language Guía (guide)
for people with chronic myelogenous leukemia
(CML).
LLS did the study to determine if
the Spanish translation of this material was
meeting the same objectives as the English
language version. "The objectives are to
help people living with CML to understand their
treatment options, to make them aware of medical
and support resources, and to encourage them to
take an active role in their healthcare," says
Clare Karten, M.S., Senior Director of Public
Education at LLS.
Between January and
March 2009, LLS conducted research with
Spanish-speaking and bilingual people living
with CML and bilingual healthcare professionals.
For each research arm we wanted to get the
groups' perspectives on the strengths and
weaknesses of the CML Guía.
A complete analysis of the survey data
is under way. The preliminary analysis shows
that overall, people with CML and providers say
the content of the Guía is
relevant and the information is appropriate.
However, while people living with CML responded
that the amount of information is just right,
about 30% of providers said there is too much
information. Conclusions drawn from the complete
analysis will be applied to future editions of
the Guía.
Free
LLS Spanish Publications
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We'd Like
to Hear From You - Please give us your feedback
after you read an LLS Publication by completing
our evaluation, LLS Disease & Treatment
Publications - Survey for Patients, Family and
Friends
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Upcoming Telephone Education
Programs
What:
Childhood Cancer Survivorship:
Challenges, Strategies, Resources
When: Tuesday,
May 26, 2009, 12 p.m., ET
www.lls.org/survivorship
Guest
speakers: Daniel Armstrong, PhD, Professor &
Associate Chair, Department of
Pediatrics, Director,
Mailman Center for Child Development, Director ,
University of Miami, Sickle Cell Center,
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine,
Associate Chief
of Staff, Holtz Children's Hospital,
University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Medical
Center, Miami, FL and Nancy F. Cincotta, MSW,
LCSW, ACSW, Psychosocial
Director, Camp Sunshine,
Casco,
ME.
What: Emerging
Therapies in Leukemia, Lymphoma & Myeloma
www.lls.org/survivorship
When: Tuesday,
June 16, 2009, 12 p.m.
Guest speakers:
Gail J. Roboz, MD, Associate Professor
of Medicine, Director, Leukemia Program,
Weill Medical College of Cornell University/New
York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY and
John P. Leonard, MD, Richard T. Silver
Distinguished Professor of Hematology and
Medical Oncology, Professor of
Medicine, Weill Medical College of
Cornell University/New York-Presbyterian
Hospital, Clinical
Director, New York - Cornell Center for
Lymphoma and Myeloma, New York, NY and Robert Z.
Orlowski, MD, PhD, Director, Myeloma Section,
Associate
Professor , Departments of
Lymphoma/Myeloma and Experimental Therapeutics,
Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of
Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston,
TX
What:
Update on Mantle Cell Lymphoma
www.lls.org/lymphomaeducation
When: Thursday,
June 18, 2009 12 p.m. ET
Guest Speaker - Owen
O'Connor, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of
Medicine Director Lymphoid Development and
Malignancy Program Chief, Lymphoma Service
Herbert Irving
What:
NHL:
Understanding Diagnosis and Making Treatment
Decisions
When:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 12 p.m.
ET
www.lls.org/survivorship
Guest
speaker: Steven H. Bernstein, MD, Professor of
Medicine, Co-Director, Lymphoma Biology
Program, James P. Wilmot Cancer Center,
University of Rochester Medical Center,
Rochester, NY.
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Featured
Materials
FS4
Mantle Cell Lymphoma
FS4S
Linfoma de celulas del manto
PS50
Lymphoma: A Guide for Patients and
Caregivers
PS63
Los linfomas: Guia para pacientes y las personas
que los cuidan
Basics about symptoms, diagnosis,
treatment, side effects of treatment, research,
resources.
PS58
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Linfoma
no Hodgkin
Details
about symptoms, subtypes, diagnosis, treatment,
side effects, research, resources.
PS34
Understanding Drug Therapy and Managing Side
Effects
PS76
Farmacoterapia y manejo de los efectos
secondarios
Drugs,
drugs administration, how they affect the body,
side effects, questions to ask.
PS41
Understanding Lab and Imaging
Tests
PS53
Informacion sobre las pruebas de laboratorio y
de imagenes
Information about blood cell counts,
diagnostic and prognostic tests, questions to
ask.
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David Allman, Ph.D.
is associate professor, pathology
& laboratory medicine at University of
Pennsylvania. Dr. Allman, recipient of an LLS
Career Development Program grant, studies
lymphocytes and their potential applications for
immunotherapy.
What is the biomedical
problem/issue that you are trying to
resolve?
The main question we
study is how stem cells in the bone marrow,
which are responsible for making all blood
cells, "decide" to make B lymphocytes, the cells
responsible for making antibodies to help fight
infections. We especially study the molecules
that drive B lymphocytes to become antibody
secreting cells. Because errors in these
processes lead to leukemias and lymphomas,
understanding how lymphocytes develop is
directly relevant to understanding how blood
cancers arise.
What's novel or
innovative about your approach?
The
novel aspect of our approach is that we study
how the proteins that regulate gene expression
during these processes influence one another in
what are called "signaling networks" or
"signaling pathways."
How will your work one
day help patients?
I think there are
a variety of answers for this one. First,
understanding how normal cells develop and
function is absolutely required for
understanding why malignancies occur and what we
can do to fight cancer. Second and more
specifically, because bone marrow
transplantation is a common therapeutic approach
for a variety of cancers, our work should
provide methods for enhancing the generation of
lymphocytes from transplanted stem cells in bone
marrow transplant recipients, and in patients
who receive lymphocyte-based "immunotherapies"
more broadly.
Are you close to
clinical trials?
That will be for
clinicians who can use our findings to decide.
What other projects
are you excited about and believe will benefit
patients?
Due to my award from LLS we
have been able to expand our work to ask
important questions about antibody secreting
cells (ASCs). When ASCs become cancerous they
can give rise to multiple myeloma, a deadly
blood cell cancer. We are asking why multiple
myeloma cells, and normal ASCs, are resistant to
specific cell death signals such as ionizing
radiation. Because myelomas are resistant to
this form of death-inducing signal, radiation
therapy is ineffective as a tool to treat
myeloma.
We have been able to identify
several key molecules on radiation-sensitive B
lymphocytes that, when stimulated, promote
resistance to radiation-induced cell death. In
the long term we are hopeful that inhibition of
these signals will cause myeloma cells to become
sensitive to radiation and perhaps other
therapies. If so, this may reveal novel
combination therapies to treat multiple myeloma.
What are
some of your hobbies and non-research interests?
Several things including play guitar
and bicycling. In fact, this June I am cycling
for the second time in an LLS Team In Training
event. http://pages.teamintraining.org/epa/ambbr09/dallman
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LLS-Funded Clinical
Trial Yields Encouraging
Results
Study led by Katherine
L.B. Borden, Ph.D., of Université de Montréal,
to be published in upcoming "Blood"
journal
Patients with refractory
or relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or
AML patients unable to tolerate standard
chemotherapy are considered very unlikely to do
well. New results from a clinical trial, funded
by The Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society (LLS), provide new
hope for such patients.
Approximately
thirty percent of cancers are characterized by
elevated levels of a protein known as eIF4E.
Patients with certain subtypes of acute
myelogenous leukemia fall into this category.
In laboratory tests, a research team led
by Katherine Borden, Ph.D., Institute for
Research in Immunology, Université de Montréal,
discovered that an existing FDA-approved
antiviral drug, ribavirin, inhibited the ability
of eIF4E to transform cells into cancer.
Ribavirin has a long history of safe use for
controlling viral infections. Ribavirin
inhibited the growth of cancers cells in
specimens from patients with one of two subtypes
of AML, M4 and M5.
Given the above
findings, the team conducted a Phase II clinical
trial fully funded by The Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society, examining the efficacy of
ribavirin treatment in M4 and M5 AML patients.
"Without the support of LLS we would
never have been able to go forward with this
trial," says Borden.
All the patients in
the study had refractory or relapsed disease or
were or unable to undergo standard chemotherapy.
Thirteen patients were treated with no
toxicities observed. Two patients left the study
early for reasons unrelated to the trial. Of the
11 evaluable patients, one complete remission
was achieved, two partial remissions, two
responses and four patients had stabilized
disease. Two patients with rapidly
progressing disease showed no molecular
response.
Through molecular analysis of
blood samples from patients in the trial, the
researchers observed that ribavirin in fact
targeted eIF4E. While the responses were
encouraging, patients eventually developed a
resistance to ribavirin treatment. Time to
relapse varied but on average relapse occurred
at around three to four months. Resistance to
therapy is common when only one drug is being
used. Therefore, the research team now plans to
conduct further trials to test ribavirin in
combination with chemotherapy, which has the
potential to substantially extend the length of
remissions.
The study was done in
collaboration with researchers from Jewish
General Hospital in Montreal. More information
about this trial can be viewed at http://www.ribatrial.com.
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top
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Sen. Specter
Proposes 'Cures Acceleration
Network' 
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) recently
introduced legislation that would establish an
agency devoted to accelerating cures for many of
the most dreaded diseases. The Cures
Acceleration Network (CAN) Act would create an
independent agency dedicated to advancing
science from the bench to the bedside by funding
promising translational research.
Many
biomedical discoveries never reach their full
potential due to the so-called "valley of death"
- the gap between basic discovery and its
application by private industry. The CAN Act
seeks to close this gap and fund the most
promising findings in the hope of accelerating
cures for diseases.
Once
established, the Cancer Acceleration Network
would fund researchers through two grant types:
Cures Acceleration Grant Awards and Cures
Acceleration Partnership Awards. Each grant type
would be authorized with $1 billion in the first
year and additional funding in following years.
Each individual grant would then be eligible for
up to $15 million per year per project, with the
possibility of additional funding in out-years.
The CAN Act would also reauthorize NIH at a
funding level of $40 billion for fiscal year
2010.
Eligible grantees would include
universities, biotech companies, research
institutions and patient advocacy organizations,
making The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)
and its Therapy
Acceleration Program (TAP) an obvious potential partner. Like the
CAN Act, the TAP program focuses on promising
scientific research and seeks to accelerate the
clinical process.
Specter, a two-time
cancer survivor, has been a staunch supporter in
the fight to increase federal funding for cancer
research. LLS is an enthusiastic supporter of
the CAN Act and the potential cures it
represents.
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the top
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