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October
3, 2005 |
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you are unable to view these articles or access the links,
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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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Job &
Fellowship Connections |
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Monthly Journal |
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eNews
Archives |
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BMT Tandem
Meetings
Feb. 16-20, 2006
Honolulu, Hawaii |
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Last
Month's Poll Results
How confident are you in your emergency procedures and crisis plan if
your transplant center had 24-36 hours to get ready for a natural
disaster such as Hurricane Katrina?
25% – Don’t want to sound smug, but I’m confident that we could be
ready.
38% – We’d probably do okay.
25% – I’m skeptical that currently we could pull it off.
12% – Good question, I have no idea. |
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Calendar |
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• October
International Symposium on Cellular Therapy for Treatment of
Autoimmune Disease
City of Hope National Medical Center
Oct. 5-7
Newport Beach Hyatt Hotel
Newport Beach, California
American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
58th Annual Meeting
Oct. 15-18
Seattle Convention Center
Seattle, Washington
Bone Marrow Failure Scientific Symposium
Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation
with NCI and NIH Office of Rare Diseases
Oct. 17-19
Loews L’Enfant Plaza Hotel
Washington, D.C.
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
31th Annual Meeting
Oct. 17-21
Hilton Washington Hotel
Washington, D.C.
International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research (ISICR)
Annual Meeting
Oct. 20-24
Shanghai International Everbright Convention Center
Shanghai, China
International Cytokine Society (ICS)
Oct. 27-31
Annual International Cytokine Conference
Lotte Hotel Jamsil
Seoul, Korea
European Society of Gene Therapy (ESGT)
13th Annual Meeting
Oct 29-Nov. 1
Hotel Hilton Progue
Prague, Czech Republic
International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention
Research
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Oct. 30-Nov. 2
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland
• November
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
18th Annual Council Meeting
Nov. 4-6
Hilton Minneapolis Hotel
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Anti-Angiogenesis and Drug Delivery to Tumors: Bench to Bedside
and Back
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Nov. 9-13
The Westin Waltham-Boston
Waltham-Boston, Massachusetts
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in the 21st Century
3rd European School of Hematology International Conference
Nov. 11-13
Cotone Congress Center
Genoa, Italy
International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer
Therapeutics: Discovery, Biology and Clinical Applications
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Nov. 14-18
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cancer, Proteases, and the Tumor Microenvironment
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Nov. 30-Dec. 4
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa
Bonita Springs, Florida
• December
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
47th Annual Meeting
Dec. 10-13
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta, Georgia
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
45th Annual Meeting
Dec. 10-14
Moscone Center
San Francisco, California
2006
• January
New Developments in the Epidemiology of Cancer
Prognosis: Traditional and Molecular Predictors of Treatment
Response and Survival
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Jan. 11-15
Charleston Place
Charleston, SC
Ubiquitin and Cancer: From Molecular Targets and Mechanisms
to the Clinic
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Jan. 18-22
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Drugging the Cancer Genome: Developing Rational Combination
Therapies for Multigene Cancers
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Jan. 25-29
Marriott Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa
Rancho Mirage, California
• February
Conference on Molecular Basis for Targeted Therapy for
Leukemia
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
and European School of Haematology (ESH)
Feb. 2-5
Cascals, Portugal
BMT Tandem Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and CIBMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 15-19
Hawaii Convention Center
Honolulu, Hawaii
2nd Advances Against Aspergillosis Conference
Feb. 22-25
Hilton Athens
Athens, Greece
• March
Cancer Susceptibility and Cancer Susceptibility
Syndromes
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
March 1-5
Sheraton Maui
Maui, Hawaii
Frontiers of Immune Suppression
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
10th Annual Winter Symposium
March 16-19
Westin Resort & Spa Cancun
Cancun, Mexico
European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)
32nd Annual Meeting
March 19-22
Congress Centrum Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany
• April
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
97th Annual Meeting
April 1-5
Washington, D.C.
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPH/O)
19th Annual Meeting
April 28-May 1
San Francisco, California
• May
American Society for Apheresis (AAS)
27th Annual Meeting
May 23-26
Venetian Resort Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
• June
Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS)
6th Annual Conference
June 1-5
San Francisco Marriott
San Francisco, California
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
42nd Annual Meeting
June 3-6
Atlanta, Georgia
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
4th Annual Meetings
June 29-July 1
Metro Toronto Convention Center
Toronto, Ontario
2007
BMT Tandem Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and CIBMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 8-12
Keystone Conference Center
Keystone, Colorado
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Top
Stories |
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New test can detect cancer using one drop of
blood
Researchers at Harvard University have developed a microchip
containing silicon wires that can detect molecular traces of
cancer using only one drop of blood. The nanowires, which are
coated with antibodies and nucleotides, are roughly the diameter
of certain markers for cancer. When a cancer molecule binds to a
wire, the resulting change in conductivity is significant enough
to detect.  |
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Wisconsin chosen as home of national embryonic cell bank
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be home to the
National Stem Cell Bank, the first embryonic stem cell bank in
the United States. The new bank, awarded in a competitive
process by the National Institutes of Health, will consolidate
all 22 stem cell lines eligible for federal funding into one
location, maintain them, and distribute them to researchers.
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Primary gene responsible for basal cell
carcinoma identified
Using gene chip array technology, researchers in the United
Kingdom have determined that 70 percent of patients with basal
cell carcinoma tumors had mutations in a gene called patched.
This technology, which employs a microscope to analyze a
specialized slide capable of containing thousands of genes, may
help researchers identify genetic changes in patients with more
than 200 different kinds of cancer. |
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$12 million awarded to study stem cell
therapy for heart damage
Specialists at Johns Hopkins Heart Institute have been
awarded more than $12 million over five years from the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study how stem cell therapies
can be used to treat damage from heart attack or heart failure.
Johns Hopkins is one of only three centers initially funded as a
Specialized Center for Cell-Based Therapy for Heart, Lung and
Blood Diseases.
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Word from President Nelson Chao, M.D.
Two major disasters of catastrophic proportions within a
month. Tremendous suffering. Terrible planning. Lives
lost. Enormous generosity. Lessons learned.
The reports from Louisiana and Texas can set your pulse
racing:
• A BMT unit lit for two nights by flashlights and candles
because the generator was under water.
• An impromptu helicopter pad erected on a parking garage
roof.
• Nurses, family members and children standing for hours
fanning patients as indoor temperatures rose to nearly 110
degrees.
• BMT patients evacuated to medical centers as far away as
Missouri and Kansas.
• Sightings of looters from a hospital rooftop and
overnight sounds of gunfire.
• A policeman, completing the donation of his peripheral
blood stem cells, rushes a cell courier to the airport in
his squad car with siren and flashing lights to beat the
incoming storm.
• Patients evacuated from BMT units in New Orleans after
Katrina, only to find themselves in a BMT unit in Houston
in the path of an approaching Rita.
The stories are at once disturbing and inspiring. A lot of
our colleagues have been among the health professionals
standing by their patients as the storms moved in.
If you haven’t been following the developments, the
reports are on the ASBMT Web site. Updates from Louisiana
and Texas transplant centers have been posted throughout
the month as they’ve come in. Browse to the
home page
and click “Hurricane Rita and Katrina Information and
Relief Efforts.”
Emergency Preparedness
One group within ASBMT that hasn’t lacked for inspiration
this past month has been our Committee on Emergency
Preparedness. Assembled earlier this year, the task force
is completing work on a manual and protocols to help
transplant centers prepare for and handle natural and
man-made calamities.
Chaired by Past-President John Wingard, who has ridden out
his share of hurricanes and tropical storms in Florida,
the committee also is organizing a session on emergency
preparedness for the BMT Medical Directors Conference next
Feb. 19 – part of the BMT Tandem Meetings in Honolulu.
There should be no shortage of case study material. After
a year like this, I expect standing room-only.
Add a $100 Bill
It’s gratifying for me to report that, together with your
Society, you’ve donated more than $25,000 to the relief
funds of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and
America’s Second Harvest. Shortly after the scale of
Katrina’s pain and devastation was understood, the ASBMT
Board announced that the Society would add $100 to any
contributions of $200 or more by members to those relief
funds.
The offer still stands. In fact, there is ample reason for
you to act right now. Many of us can remember donating to
relief efforts last January after the Asian tsunami, but
how many of us have written a check to aid the victims
since then? Human nature. Although the tragedy lingers,
our sense of urgency ebbs as our attention moves on to
other things.
Before you move on, you can make us place a $100 bill on
top of your donation to the Katrina and Rita relief
efforts. Click here for
details on how it works. The needs remain great.
The month has been stressful and agonizing. A month that
many of us surely will remember for a long time to come.
– Nelson |
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Clinical Research |
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Speed of PSA doubling indicates prognosis for prostate
cancer
The rapidity of the rise in prostate-specific antigen levels
following prostate cancer treatment with hormone and radiation
therapy is a direct indicator of clinical outcome, according to
a report published in the Oct. 1 issue of the International
Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics. Studies of 621
men showed that patients whose PSA level doubled within eight
months after treatment failure were more likely to have the
cancer return or spread to other parts of the body than patients
whose PSA did not double in eight months or less.
Mylotarg treatment improves survival in relapsed AML
Among 277 patients with acute myeloid leukemia who relapsed
after initial remission, treatment with Mylotarg (gemtuzumab
ozogamicin) followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation
improved survival rates. According to a study published in the
October issue of the journal Cancer, survival among patients who
achieved a complete response and then underwent allogeneic
transplantation was 60 percent.
Gene identified that may predict aggressive ovarian cancer
Researchers have identified a gene – Rsf-1– that may predict
aggressive ovarian cancer, according to a report published in
the Sept. 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences. In 13.2 percent of high grade ovarian cancers
studied, the number of gene copies of Rsf-1 surged, and these
patients lived an average of 29 months, compared with 36 months
for patients without this Rsf-1 amplification.
Rituxan can improve survival in mantle cell lymphoma
Patients suffering from mantle cell lymphoma who are treated
with Rituxan (rituximab) and chemotherapy before high-dose
chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation have improved
survival. According to research published in the October issue
of the journal Cancer, all but one patient undergoing
this regimen experienced at least a partial shrinkage of their
lymphoma, and 87 percent of patients were expected to survive
for at least three years.
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Pharmaceutical News |
Japanese company pays for development of cancer drug
Merck KGaA is receiving $72.4 million from Takeda
Pharmaceutical Co. in Japan as an incentive to develop matuzumab,
a drug for treatment non-small cell lung, gastric and colorectal
cancers. Matuzumab is in phase II clinical trials. |
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Association
News |
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Abstract deadline delayed to Oct. 10
The deadlines for abstract submission and for early registration
have been moved back a week for the 2006 BMT Tandem Meetings.
Monday, Oct. 10, is the new deadline for online abstract
submission and meeting pre-registration at the lowest rates. The
deadline extension is in response to the hurricane-related
difficulties of transplant clinicians and investigators in the
Gulf Coast states, but the new deadline is available to all. The
Web site for abstract submission will close at 3 p.m. Eastern
(12 noon Pacific) on Oct. 10.
Storm reports: BMT centers ride out Katrina and Rita
Throughout the month of September, reports from transplant
centers in New Orleans and, more recently, Houston have been
posted on the ASBMT Web site. Emotional highs and lows. Joys and
sorrows.
Contributions for disaster relief at $25,000 and growing
ASBMT members and their Society have contributed more than
$25,000 to national disaster relief organizations. The Society
has a program through which $100 is added to each member’s
donation that exceeds $200.
Consortium will address cell product coding and labeling
Improvement in coding and labeling of cellular therapy
products is the objective of a newly created consortium of
organizations that includes ASBMT and 10 other national and
international cell therapy organizations. The group will promote
standardization of terminology and product naming.
Workshop on Chronic GvHD in Honolulu
“Assessing Response in Chronic GvHD Clinical Trials” is an
educational and training workshop that will be held on Monday
afternoon, Feb. 20, in Honolulu. The faculty will be clinicians
who participated in the development of the 2005 NIH Consensus
Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic GvHD.
New edition of membership
directory mailed
The 2005-2006 ASBMT Membership Directory was mailed
in September to all members of the Society. The directory
includes nearly 200 members who have joined since the last
edition, plus countless updates of mailing addresses, phone and
fax numbers and e-mail addresses. The directory is made possible
by a grant from Amgen Oncology.
Research awards announced for young investigators
ASBMT has announced two new awards for young investigators –
one in cooperation with Protein Design Labs and the other with
Astellas Pharma US. Both awards are $25,000 per-year, renewable
for a second year. The deadline for applications is Dec. 1.
ASBMT and AST launch joint clinical research award
ASBMT and the American Society of Transplantation (AST) have
announced a joint Clinical Research Award for new investigators.
The award is $40,000 a year, renewable for a second year. The
deadline for applications is Dec. 2.
Investigator award renewed for M.D. Anderson instructor
The recipient of a new investigator award from ASBMT and
Astellas Pharma US has submitted a mid-project progress report
on his research on ways to elicit donor cytotoxic T-lymphocytes
specifically targeted against a previously identified
leukemia-associated antigen, termed PR1.
40 travel grants available for 2006 BMT Tandem Meetings
The ASBMT Executive Committee has announced 40 travel grants
of $1,000 each for young investigators (not more than five years
in the BMT field) who submit abstracts to the 2006 Tandem BMT
Meetings.
New investigators eligible for $5,000 editorial awards
Each year, ASBMT presents two editorial awards to new
investigators published in Biology of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation, the Society’s monthly peer-reviewed
journal. The awards recognize the best basic science and the
best clinical research articles.
BBMT reviews therapy for
adult T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma
Adult T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma is a relatively rare
aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with frequent
involvement of extranodal sites. In this month’s issue of
Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Drs. Mahmoud
Aljurf and Syed Zaidi review the status of chemotherapy
treatment programs and the relative merits of the different
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation programs in this
disease, particularly in relation to the pathologic and clinical
features that correlate with disease prognosis.
Pace of BBMT manuscript submissions continues to grow
The pace of manuscript submissions to Biology of Blood
and Marrow Transplantation continues to accelerate – from
eight or nine manuscripts per month in 2002 to more than 20
manuscripts per month now.
New developments in CMV explored
“With so much success in controlling cytomegalovirus
disease, one feels almost ungrateful to furtively whisper that
there is more yet to do,” said John Wingard, M.D., in an
introduction to the current issue of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation Reviews. “Clearly challenges remain. New
data offer possible ways to meet the challenge to improve
transplantation outcomes.” The latest issue, mailed to 10,500
hematologists and oncologists including all ASBMT members,
presents an edited transcript of a symposium on new developments
in CMV, presented at the 2005 BMT Tandem Meetings. A CME
assessment test is included.
Free ASBMT membership for trainees
Postdoctoral 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 October and November, annual dues will be
waived for new trainees who apply for membership in the Society.
Major enhancements added to online job and fellowship banks
Significant upgrades have been announced for the Job
Connection and the Fellowship Connection that are
located on the ASBMT Web site. Among them is a new “Job Alert”
system that sends an e-mail when a newly posted job or
fellowship matches pre-determined search criteria -- especially
useful for those who are only passively seeking new
opportunities.
ASH convention moved to Dec. 10-13 in Atlanta
The 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Society of
Hematology, originally scheduled for New Orleans, has been moved
to Dec. 10-13 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina caused the re-location of
the meeting that will be one week later than the original
meeting dates.
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