A whimsical castle and some fun gifts help a US cancer center get sick children over their fear of radiation sessions used to treat their disease.

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have begun Phase I clinical trials of a new drug designed to treat myeloproliferative diseases (MPD) that sometimes develop into acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have already used the new drug, an orally-administered compound known as TG101348, to successfully treat chronic blood cancers in [...]

Still wondering how you’ll spend your summer vacation? Consider a kid’s cancer camp. Oncology camps offer pediatric cancer patients and their families a great opportunity to have some fun away from the dreary routine of hospital visits. Plus, kids and their parents get to spend some recreational time with others who truly understand what it’s [...]

A study conducted at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital has shown that some kids with kidney cancers classified “inoperable” may actually be able to keep normal kidney function with the help of a surgical procedure called nephron-sparing surgery. Between 1999 and 2006, St Jude conducted nephron-sparing surgery, otherwise known as partial nephrectomy, on 10 kidney [...]

A study led by the Harvard School of Medicine provides evidence that targeted chemotherapies commonly used to treat glioblastoma may do more harm than good for some patients. Glioblastoma is a rare form of brain cancer with a poor survival rate. STAT3 inhibitors are one of the few therapies available to treat the disease, but [...]

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has won the Innovation of the Year in Patient Care Award from the Minnesota Hospital Association for making chemotherapy, CT scans and other medical procedures less frightening for children. Children’s Hospitals and Clinics have been using nitrous oxide, a mild sedative commonly referred to as laughing gas, to relax [...]

A study of children involved in cancer treatments and other trials indicates most of them are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to further research projects and charitable causes, even if the activities wouldn’t benefit them personally. To arrive at the findings, scientists from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and the National [...]

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have isolated a human blood cell involved in the creation of all blood cells found in the body. This cell, called the multipotent progenitor, is the offspring of stem cells found in bone marrow. Later generations of progenitor cells become the red blood cells, platelets, and immune [...]

A multi-million dollar government contract awarded to develop a treatment for military personnel attacked with radioactive weapons could also benefit leukemia patients whose bodies reject bone marrow transplants. Osiris Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: OSIR) will receive up to $224.7M from the US Department of Defense to speed development of Prochymal™, an intravenous drug designed to treat [...]

A study conducted by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital shows chloroquine, a common prescription drug used to treat malaria, prevents certain types of cancers from developing. The Scripps and St Jude’s researchers used mouse models to test chloroquine’s impact on tumors. Their investigation revealed the drug blocked Burkitt [...]