By reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have significantly improved survival for children with refractory or relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). However, decades of research and care have shown that treatment for pediatric cancers can affect survivors long into adulthood. So, learning from the past, a national group of physicians and scientists developing CAR T–cell therapies (the

New research has endorsed a long‑standing idea explaining why acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) – the most common cancer in children – appears abruptly in early life, often in otherwise healthy individuals, with no obvious environmental trigger. Read more: https://www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/icr-news/detail/childhood-leukaemia-and-germs--research-reveals-the-critical-importance-of-timing

A research team identified three genes connected to a rare form of childhood leukaemia and found that clinically available drugs had a positive influence on these genes in tests on mice, increasing rates of survival. Read more: https://www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/repurposed-drugs-could-improve-treatment-for-rare-infant-leukaemia/68964/

Now, Cincinnati Children’s is working with New Zealand-based BioOra, Ltd, to launch a clinical trial that would bring a lower-risk, “third-generation” CAR-T therapy—called Alta-cel—to children and teens with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Read more: https://scienceblog.cincinnatichildrens.org/clinical-trial-to-evaluate-safer-car-t-cell-therapy-for-children/

Researchers in Japan find that B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with NUTM1 gene rearrangements is a unique form of the disease, with a distinct pattern of gene activity and gene regulation that is highly sensitive to chemotherapy. Read more: https://www.asiaresearchnews.com/content/nutm1-rearrangements-cause-highly-treatable-form-infant-leukemia

The new paper reveals for the first time that these DNA fragments can persist in cancer cells and may drive relapse in patients with...

By characterizing B-cells’ developmental stages, scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital designed and tested a drug...

Besponsa provides another — and potentially more effective — option outside of traditional chemotherapy for pediatric patients with...

A recent collaboration with colleagues in Shanghai Children’s Medical Center has found a new immunotherapy combination that resulted in ...

An international research team coordinated by Dr. Oscar Molina and Dr. Pablo Menéndez, from the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research ...