About 40 percent of children and up to 70 percent of adults in remission from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) will have a relapse. In recent years, doctors have come to believe that this is due to leukemia stem cells, constantly replicating cancer cells that produce immature blood cells characteristic of leukemia and are resistant to traditional cancer treatments. Now, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered a possible way to kill these cells and prevent the release of a relapse.The study, published online March 26 in the journal Science, shows that leukemic stem cells can not thrive without a particular cellular pathway, known as the Wnt / beta-catenin, suggesting that targeting this pathway may inhibit the growth and development of AML.

“The greatest potential of this study is the suppression of relapse of leukemia with a drug that inhibits beta-catenin,” says Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, Division of Children pediatric hematology / oncology and lead author of the study.

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Canadian researchers have discovered a previously hidden channel to attack leukemia and other cancer cells, according to a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The results of the University of Montreal, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and Laval University may change doctors treat cancer patients.

“We found a door, which is present in all human beings, which enables anti-cancer agents such as bleomycin to enter the body so they can reach and attack the leukemia cells,” says lead author Dindial Ramotar , a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal and a research affiliate at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont.

Dr. Ramotar has begun to test his theory ten years ago with the help of yeast, which is remarkably similar to human cells. “Our discovery has increased in this model system for human cells and will soon come to bed due to the therapy of translation, he said.” We are about to test patients. ”

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Lung transplant patients may benefit from a day of a synthetic peptide that mimics the body’s natural ability to reduce the excessive accumulation of fluid, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.Excess fluid and other problems that can occur within 72 hours of a transplant can significantly reduce short-term survival and long-term lung function. About 10 percent of patients with acute lung injury in the first hours after transplantation, killing more than 40 percent of these patients within 30 days.

MCG researchers have shown in the March issue of Critical Care Medicine that the release of peptide TIP trachea in the lungs of rats in a half hour before surgery can remove the bad result, known as ischemic reperfusion injury and improve oxygenation.

“We see that the parameters of lung transplantation are almost normal,” said Dr. Rudolf Lucas, a biologist in the MCG Vascular Biology Center for Vascular and author of the paper.

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