Tag Archives: officer

Survival rates in pediatric umbilical cord transplants may indicate a new standard of care

The research, led by John Wagner, Jr., M.D., director of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation program at the University of Minnesota and a researcher in the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, compared outcomes in children with acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome who received transplants of either one or two units of partially matched cord blood. The study was conducted at multiple sites nationwide, between December 2006 and February 2012. Coordinating the study was the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) in collaboration with the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium and the Children’s Oncology Group. …

Pneumococcal vaccine reduces antibiotic-resistant infections in children by 62 percent

The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), first available in 2010 (replacing 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV7), reduced the incidence of antibiotic-resistant invasive pneumococcal disease by 62 percent from 2009 to 2013 among children under five years old. The study is the first report of the effectiveness of PCV13 to combat antibiotic-resistant infections, a vaccination recommended for children under five years old. …

Preclinical development of tumor therapeutic agent begins

amcure, one of the partners of which is KIT, now plans to use the funds acquired for the further development of candidate agents identified by the team of Dr. Veronique Orian-Rousseau, KIT, for the treatment of metastatic tumors. The candidate substances bind specifically to a certain so-called isoform of the surface molecule CD44 and, thus, specifically interfere with central signal paths of tumor growth, while other types of cells remain unaffected. New formation of blood vessels supplying the tumor (angiogenesis) and migration of cancer cells and their invasion into other organs (development of metastases) are inhibited…

Multiple myeloma study uncovers genetic diversity within tumors

"What this new work shows us is that when we treat an individual patient with multiple myeloma, it’s possible that we’re not just looking at one disease, but at many — in the same person, there could be cancer cells with different genetic make-ups," said co-senior author Todd Golub, the Broad Institute’s Chief Scientific Officer and Charles A. Dana Investigator in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Golub is also a professor at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. …

Strong pregnancy outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer

"Most women think that if they had cancer as a child, then they’ll never have children. It turns out that many of them can get pregnant. It just might be a little harder," said senior author Lisa Diller, MD, chief medical officer of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s and medical director of the David B…