Fall 2007 - International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia ...

Medical News, cont from page 4
in infection-related deaths and a higher rate of opportunistic
infections in those patients who are also HIV positive.
More Results on Zevalin and Bexxar – The Mayo Clinic of
Rochester, Minn., reviewed the results of four clinical trials
involving the use of Zevalin at 30 U.S. medical centers for 211
patients with recurring or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma. Median overall survival was 49.3 months. The
patients most likely to have long-term remission had nonbulky
disease and achieved a complete response following
treatment. The University of Michigan Comprehensive
Cancer Center followed 76 follicular NHL patients after
treatment with Bexxar. Eight years following therapy, 86%
of patients were still alive and 50% had not had a relapse of
their disease.
Blood-Forming Stem Cells Produced from Fat
Tissue – Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine report that they have found a way to isolate and
culture human blood-forming stem cells from fat tissue. The
researchers are hoping that this might be a method of giving
patients who need bone marrow transplantation their own
blood-forming stem cells derived from a source other than
their defective bone marrow.
Faster Infusion Schedule for Rituximab in Canadian
Study – The University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada, has developed a 90-minute infusion schedule for
rituximab, in which 20% of the dose is administered in the
first 30 minutes, and the remaining 80% over 60 minutes.
The rituximab infusion is combined with corticosteroids
for this protocol. Only one of 1200 patients receiving this
infusion approach developed a serious reaction, and it was
successfully managed.
Nucleoside Analog Treatment Poses Increased Risk for
Transformation to Aggressive Lymphoma or Leukemia –
A presentation at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American
Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) concluded that there
is an increased risk of transformation to aggressive B-cell
lymphoma or development of myelodysplastic syndrome/
acute myelogenous leukemia (MDS/AML) following
treatment with nucleoside analogs. A total of 326 patients
were investigated, with 173 patients previously treated with
nucleoside analogs and 153 patients treated with other
chemotherapies. Among patients treated with nucleoside
analogs, 10 (5.7%) developed either disease transformation
or MDS/AML at a median time of 48 months following
treatment; only one patient on other therapies experienced
this complication.
New Proteasome Inhibitor Used for Immune System
Cancers – Another report from the 2007 Annual Meeting of
ASCO by K. A. Stewart, et al., presented information on two
Phase I dose studies of a new proteasome inhibitor named
carfilzomib (PR-171). A total of 54 patients with multiple
myeloma, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and
WM are enrolled. Several responses have been observed with
no peripheral neuropathy and only one dose-limiting toxicity.
Canadian Study of Bortezomib for WM – The National
Cancer Institute of Canada has reported the results of a Phase
II study of bortezomib as a single agent treatment for 27
untreated or previously treated WM patients. Seventy-eight
percent of these patients achieved at least a 25% reduction
in IgM levels. The most common toxicity seen in this study
was reversible peripheral neuropathy.
The author gratefully acknowledges the efforts of Howard
Prestwich, Bert Visheau, Mike Dewhirst, Gareth Evans, and Neil
Schweer in disseminating news of interest to the WM community.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
By James Bunton
2007 Educational Forum DVDs We are very sorry about
the lengthy delay in making available copies of the DVDs for
the 2007 Educational Forum.
Unfortunately, just as the preparation of the tapes was
nearing completion, one of our volunteers had a complete
wipe-out of his computer hard drive. This meant starting all
over again and reloading from the raw tapes recorded at the
forum, inserting the presenters’ slides, and editing the whole
thing over again. This set back means the finished product
will not be available until the middle of November.
Once again our apologies for the inconvenience caused by
this delay.
Special skills Do you have a special skill or training?
On occasion the trustees will consider initiating a new
member service, or enhancing an existing one, but find they
are inhibited in this by a lack of expertise in that area. We
expect there are members with such expertise but do not
know who they are. It was suggested that we would be better
able to use volunteers if we had some idea of the special
skills or training available among our members.
Accordingly, we would like to build up an inventory of
members with special skills or expertise and who would
be willing to volunteer to help IWMF. Some of the areas
that come quickly to mind are legal training, website
administration, computer skills, fundraising and project
management. If you are interested and have a skill you can
volunteer, please send your name to the business office and I
will be in touch with you with further information.
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