Michelle Karalekas’ time in the Mont Tremblant Ironman Triathlon in Quebec on Aug. 20 — 14 hours, 5 minutes — was not her fastest in the grueling event, but it may have been her most impressive. It was the first time she’d competed since undergoing a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) almost … Read more
In 2022, the drug teclistamab became the first bispecific antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Experts say the drug represents one of the most important advances in recent years against myeloma, a blood cancer diagnosed in more than 35,000 people in the United … Read more
In most ways, Bill Ross’s stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center (DFBCC) wasn’t out of the ordinary. He received chemotherapy to destroy the tumor cells in his body and then an infusion of his own hematopoietic stem cells, which flocked to his bone marrow and regenerated his blood supply. Over … Read more
Bone marrow is the soft, spongy material inside our bones. Occupying one of the most protected places in the body, it produces nearly all the components of blood. These include red blood cells, which deliver oxygen throughout the body, white blood cells, which help fight disease, and platelets needed for clotting. The marrow generates approximately … Read more
Hodgkin lymphoma (sometimes called Hodgkin’s lymphoma) is a form of cancer that affects the immune system. It starts in the white blood cells, but what patients and doctors will most likely notice first is a lump in the neck, under the arm, or in the groin. How is Hodgkin lymphoma staged? Hodgkin lymphoma is staged … Read more
Tom Lomaglio, Jr., learned he had a rare blood cancer called Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) in 2000. His father, Tom, Sr., had been diagnosed in 2004, and then his sister, Diane, in 2007. They were all referred to Dana-Farber for care. When Lomaglio visited the first time, he met Steven Treon, MD, PhD, director of the … Read more
A novel hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) method utilizing ‘graft sculpting’ is being tested in a phase 1 clinical trial in patients with refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who are at the highest risk of relapse after ‘standard’ transplants. In fact, the patients in the trial don’t qualify for a standard … Read more
Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM) is a blood cancer that is extremely rare, affecting around 1500 people in the US each year. About 20 percent of those cases are considered familial, meaning that many members of the same family also have some form of blood cancer, such as myeloma or lymphoma. An even smaller group — five … Read more
For many patients with lymphoma or multiple myeloma, a stem cell transplant with their own stem cells (an autologous transplant) or CAR T-cell therapy can extend life significantly or even cure the disease. A variety of factors influence which of these two treatments is recommended, including: What is the difference between stem cell transplant and … Read more
It may be the quintessential question about cancer therapy: why does a particular treatment work well in some patients and not others with the same disease? The question is especially relevant for immunotherapies known as CAR T-cell therapies precisely because they’re so promising. The therapies, which are made by genetically engineering a patient’s own immune … Read more
Drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, or TKIs, have revolutionized the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a type of cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many semi-mature white blood cells. Prior to the introduction of these drugs in the early 2000s, standard first-line treatments for the disease reduced CML levels in only … Read more
Championship rower Dan Lynch is used to fighting against the current. Most people start the sport in their teens or twenties. Lynch dropped oars at 53 on a whim. Today, it isn’t a mere hobby. He’s now pursuing the longest-known streak of consecutive days on an indoor rowing machine. Not even mantle cell lymphoma, a … Read more
What does “refractory” mean medically? The word “refractory” in general use means stubborn or intractable, and in medicine it is specifically applied to disease that does not respond to treatment. Refractory cancer refers to cancer that may be resistant to initial therapy or becomes resistant during treatment. “We would consider disease refractory if doesn’t respond … Read more
Jared Olinski was lifting his four-year-old son off of the floor when he felt three sharp pops in his back followed by pain. At first, cancer wasn’t on his radar. Olinksi was only 35 at the time. “I assumed I pulled a muscle,” Olinski remembers. His primary care physician thought it was a slipped disk … Read more
While some racial and ethnic groups have been underrepresented in clinical trials of therapies for lung cancer, breast cancer and other malignancies, researchers speculated that the situation might be different for adult leukemia trials. The unique features of the disease — the speed with which it needs to be treated after diagnosis, the delivery of … Read more
CAR T cells’ superpower is to identify cancer-related targets on the surface of tumor cells and order an attack on those cells. But they lack anything resembling X-ray vision to detect nefarious protein targets within tumor cells. That shortfall has limited their effectiveness in diseases like acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), in which tumor cells display few surface … Read more
Results of several phase 3 trials and dozens of other studies led by Dana-Farber researchers were presented online and in person June 3-7 at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s largest clinical cancer research meeting. Some of the research reports presented by Dana-Farber investigators include: Improved progression-free … Read more
Every year, Nancy Demers celebrates two birthdays. The first marks the day she was born: August 6, 1943. The second — March 20, 2015 — is the day the then-71-year-old Connecticut resident received a stem cell transplant at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and the start of a healthy new life. Eighteen months prior, in September … Read more
What is hemoglobin? Hemoglobin is an essential protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues and transports carbon dioxide from your organs and tissues back to your lungs. Is hemoglobin affected by cancer? Anemia is essentially a blood condition marked by a low level of hemoglobin and red blood cells, and in some … Read more
When John Ferris was first diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in early 2017, he was told he had six to nine months to live. Later, while undergoing treatment that appeared to be halting his cancer, he received an amended diagnosis. “Cancer is not going to kill you, but your drinking could,” his oncologist told Ferris. “We … Read more