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August
1, 2003 |
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Top
Stories |
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Legislation and Regulation |
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Clinical
Research |
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Pharmaceutical
News |
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Association
News |
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Calendar |
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eNews
Archives |
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Tandem BMT Meetings
Feb 13 - 17, 2004
Orlando, Florida
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Last Month's
Poll Results
What’s your opinion? Is collaboration among transplant
centers in the United States keeping pace with those in
Europe and elsewhere?
Yes, by
and large.
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13% |
No, but
I’m hopeful and I expect we’re going to see more
collaborations among U. S. centers.
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46% |
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No, and I don’t see much likelihood of things changing
in the near future. |
40% |
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Calendar |
• August
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
Signal Transduction Determining the Fate of Stem Cells
Aug. 9-12
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana
• September
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
3rd Annual Somatic Cell Therapy Symposium: Regulatory Issues for
Scientists and Clinicians
Sept. 13-15
Chesapeake Bay Hyatt
Cambridge, Maryland
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
2003 Cancer Conference
Sept. 15-18
Marriott Marquis Hotel
Atlanta
Federation of European Cancer Societies (FECS)
ECCO 12
Sept. 21-25
Bella Center A/S
Copenhagen, Denmark
Asian Society of Transplantation (AST)
8th Congress
Sept. 23-27
Shangri-La Hotel
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• October
American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT)
(with the International Society for Cellular Therapy)
3rd Annual Meeting on Mesenchymal and Nonhematopoietic Stem
Cells
Oct. 19-21
New Orleans
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
29th Annual Meeting
Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Fontainebleau Hilton
Miami Beach, Florida
• November
American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
56th Annual Meeting
Nov. 1-4
San Diego, California
American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
53rd Annual Meeting
Nov. 4-8
Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
Council Meeting
Nov. 14-16
Minneapolis
European Society for Gene Therapy (ESGT)
11th Annual Meeting
Nov. 14-17
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
Edinburgh, Scotland
• December
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
45th Annual Meeting
Dec. 6-9
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, California
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
43rd Annual Meeting
Dec. 13-17
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California
2004
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
8th Annual Winter Symposium
Jan. 15-18
Westin Kierland Resort
Scottsdale, Arizona
6th International Congress on New Trends in Immunosuppression
Feb. 5-8
Salzburg Congress Centre
Salzburg, Austria
2004 Tandem BMT Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and IBMTR/ABMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 13-17
Coronado Springs Resort
Orlando, Florida
2005
2005 Tandem BMT Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and IBMTR/ABMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 10-14
Keystone Resort
Keystone, Colorado
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Top
Stories |
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New England Journal of Medicine editors plan
to push importance of embryonic stem cell research
In an editorial in the July 17 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine, Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., criticized the
U.S. House of Representatives’ vote to ban research on, and the
use of, medical treatments derived from embryonic stem cells,
pledging to publish articles that describe embryonic stem cell
research and any treatments that derive from this research. The
journal’s goal is to make sure embryonic stem cell research
continues in the United States so patients have access to the
latest medical advances.
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Spain OKs use of embryonic stem cells for
research
On July 25, the Spanish Ministry of Health authorized the
use of embryonic stem cells for research, saying only embryos
left over from fertilization treatment can be used, and then
only with the parents’ consent. The Ministry of Health estimates
there are tens of thousands of frozen embryos in fertility
clinics around the country.
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Tulane University receives grant to study
repair of heart damage using stem cells
The Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University has
received a four-year grant of more than $1.75 million from the
National Institutes of Health to study ways that adult stem
cells might repair damaged heart tissue. A team of researchers
plans to use that money to better understand adult stem cells
and characterize them according to their life cycle, first
injecting stem cells into rats that have sustained heart damage
similar to that of a patient who has had a heart attack, then
into rats with prolonged reduction of blood flow.
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Double autologous stem cell transplant
boosts survival in patients with multiple myeloma
Two autologous stem cell transplants may improve long-term
survival over a single autologous transplant in patients with
untreated multiple myeloma who are under the age of 65,
according to a special issue of the journal Blood,
presenting the proceedings of the American Society of Hematology
annual meeting. These findings are a result of a French study of
339 patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Seven years
after therapy, overall survival was 42 percent for patients
treated with a double transplant, compared with 21 percent for
those receiving a single transplant.
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 A
Word from President Joseph Antin, M.D.
In an era when business and professional ethics are
on the minds of a lot of people, the following letter
arrived from one of our colleagues. I felt that it was
important and well worth sharing.
Dear Joe,
This past month I found myself giving a lecture at another
institution, submitting a paper for consideration of
publication, participating in a grant submission to the
NIH, consenting patients to clinical trials, and reviewing
a manuscript sent to me by the editors of a journal in my
subspecialty. In the first four circumstances, I was asked
to declare whether I had any potential conflicts of
interest that might influence the design, conduct,
analysis, or interpretation of clinical trials that I was
proposing/reporting. Requirements to disclose any real or
perceived conflicts of interest have become commonplace in
academic medicine and are accepted by most investigators
in order to maintain the integrity of the conduct of
clinical trials and laboratory research.
In contrast to these declarations, I was not asked to
disclose whether I had any potential conflicts (financial
or otherwise) as a referee of manuscripts submitted by
other investigators. In the past year, I have been asked
to judge the merits of a manuscript for six or seven
different journals, but in only one case was my
impartiality as a reviewer queried. This is surprising
because the primary reviewer of a manuscript wields
enormous influence over whether the work is accepted or
rejected for publication. Publication in a respected
peer-reviewed journal is the gateway through which new
therapies and techniques must pass before gaining
widespread acceptance. It would seem that a reviewer’s
potential conflicts are nearly as critical as those of the
author in assuring the scientific community and general
public of the credibility of published work. It is time
for journals to hold investigators and judges to the same
standard.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Soiffer, M.D.
Although sometimes it seems that the need to report
conflicts of interest has gone slightly overboard, it’s
nevertheless important for scientists and clinicians who
read journals and submit manuscripts to be confident that
their work is being judged fairly. As a journal increases
in stature, this need becomes more acute.
Last year our ASBMT Board of Directors adopted a stringent
Code of Ethics to govern the directors’ own activities as
leaders of the Society. We now are working toward a
similar Editorial Board policy to confirm the absence of
conflict of interest when reviewers critique a manuscript
that has been submitted to Biology of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation.
As we conclude these deliberations and adopt policies,
we’ll be sharing them with you.
-Joe
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Legislation and Regulation |
Lawmakers asked to establish a National Cord Blood Stem Cell
Bank
Last week, HR 2852, “Cord Blood
Stem Cell Act of 2003,” was introduced in the House of
Representatives “to establish a National Cord Blood Stem Cell
Bank network to prepare, store and distribute human umbilical
cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and to
support peer-reviewed research using such cells.” The
legislation calls for federal financing to collect 150,000 units
of cord blood to treat patients who can’t get stem cells through
the more standard bone marrow donor program. |
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Clinical
Research |
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Age-related failure to produce stem cells could lead to
atherosclerosis
Experiments in mice have shown that the age-related failure
of the bone marrow to produce bone-marrow-derived vascular
progenitor cells that repair blood vessel damage could lead to
atherosclerosis, according to a Duke University Medical Center
study appearing in the July 29 issue of the journal
Circulation. The scientists also tied this loss of
rejuvenating cells to a broad range of age-related disorders,
including rheumatoid arthritis and chronic liver disease.
Stem cells derived from the central nervous
system don’t trigger an immune response
Multipotent, self-renewing stem and progenitor cells
isolated from the central nervous system in mice possess
inherent immune privilege, according to a study published in the
July issue of the journal Stem Cells. When researchers
injected these cells beneath the kidney capsule, they survived
at least four weeks, during which time they neither sensitized
their hosts nor expressed detectable levels of major
histocompatibility complex class I or II.
Mesenchymal stem cells demonstrate immunosuppressive property
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) appear to possess an inherent
immunosuppressive property when implanted into allogeneic
immunocompetent mice, according to a report in a prepublished
online version of the journal Blood. This class of MSCs
was not rejected and was then able to differentiate into bone. |
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Pharmaceutical
News |
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Mylotarg followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation
effective in treating relapsed acute myeloid leukemia
Administering Mylotarg -- a targeted chemotherapeutic agent
composed of a monoclonal antibody attached to calicheamicin, an
antibiotic that kills cancer cells -- before an allogeneic stem
cell transplant appears to be an effective approach to treating
relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These results come from a
multicenter clinical trial of 277 patients, in which 26 percent
of patients achieved complete remission following Mylotarg
alone, and those who went on to receive an allogeneic stem cell
transplant achieved the best survival rates.
Velcade shows
promise in treating refractory multiple myeloma
In a study of 193 patients with refractory multiple myeloma,
treatment with bortezomib (Velcade) resulted in a 35 percent
response rate, with a median duration of response of 12 months,
according to an article published in the June 26 edition of the
New England Journal of Medicine.
Among those with a response, myeloma protein became undetectable
in seven patients and was detectable only by immunofixation in
12 patients.
Bexxar approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Bexxar (tositumomab and Iodine I131 tositumomab) has
received FDA approval to treat low-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
that no longer responds to Rituxan and chemotherapy. A study of
40 patients with Rituxan-refractory disease showed that 63
percent responded to Bexxar, with a median duration of response
of 25 months. Corixa Corp., maker of the drug, expects to start
filling orders this month. |
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Association
News |
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Slide presentation on evidence-based reviews
A new PowerPoint presentation on evidence-based reviews of
stem cell transplantation for (1) multiple myeloma and (2) non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma has been posted on the ASBMT Web site, where it can be
viewed online or downloaded for presentations to managed care
representatives and other healthcare plan decisionmakers.
ASBMT journal gets "Impact Factor"
One of the milestones of growth for a young medical journal
is getting its first Impact Factor. ASBMT’s monthly journal,
Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, has earned an
ISI impact factor of 2.919.
Free ASBMT membership for trainees
Post-doctoral fellows and physicians-in-training for blood
and marrow transplantation are eligible for free membership in
the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
During the months of August and September, the annual dues will
be waived for new trainees who apply for membership in the
Society.
Cytomegalovirus: Down but not out
Once the most feared infectious pathogen threatening
patients after hematopoietic cell transplantation,
cytomegalovirus (CMV) today is a mere shadow of its former self.
But the battle hasn’t ended. The organism continues to stage
ambushes that necessitate continued vigilance. A summary of a
symposium on the “Impact of CMV in Stem Cell Transplantation,”
presented at the 2003 Tandem BMT Meetings, appears in the
current issue of the ASBMT bulletin, Blood and Marrow
Transplantation Reviews.
New membership directories mailed
The 2003-2004 ASBMT Membership Directory was mailed
in late July to all members of the Society. Supported by an
educational grant from Amgen, the directory lists Society
members by name and geographic location and includes a directory
of North American transplant centers.
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