Newly released info on CML

[Guest guest]

" We are looking under the surface of CML to understand better where the cancer

is coming from. We have discovered abnormal cells in the early stem cell

population in some CML patients, which don't belong to the CML clone. These are

abnormal cells that are not part of the CML clone, " said Bumm, M.D., OHSU

Cancer Institute member. This research was presented at the American Society of

Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta.

" Bumm was looking into Philadelphia Chromosome-negative stem cells - which he

and others had thought would look like normal, healthy cells, and have normal

chromosomes. (It has been known that the driving force of CML is the

Philadelphia Chromosome-positive cancer cells.)

" But no, these chromosome negative cells are not normal looking. We are seeing

that there are other abnormal cells in the early stem cell population in the

bone marrow of some CML patients that are Philadelphia Chromosome-negative. They

have abnormalities such as the deletion of chromosome 7 or a duplication of

chromosome 8, " explained Bumm, a fellow in hematology/medical oncology, OHSU

School of Medicine.

" It is not known why patients with CML have these abnormal cells and to what

extent. These newly discovered abnormal cells are also seen in other cancers

such as myelodysplastic syndrome.

" We are not yet sure about the extent of this problem. We do hope though that

our studies into the stem cell compartment of CML patients might help to find

new targets for CML therapy to cure this cancer, " Bumm said.

" Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a form of blood cancer characterized by the

increased and unregulated growth of predominantly myeloid cells in the bone

marrow and the accumulation of these cells in the blood. The next step, although

costly, will be to analyze more leukemia patients as well as healthy bone marrow

samples to continue to look for these new abnormalities.

" Working with Bumm on this research is Amy E. Hanlon Newell, Ph.D., senior

research associate in molecular and medical genetics, OHSU School of Medicine;

and Jutta Deininger M.D., senior research assistant, hematology/medical

oncology, OHSU School of Medicine and an OHSU Cancer Institute member. The study

was performed in the laboratory of Deininger, M.D., Ph.D., associate

professor of medicine, hematology/medical oncology, OHSU School of Medicine.

The research is abstract #36 "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91316.php

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Video of how a stem cell forms and how they are diferentiated- very

interesting.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/stem_cell/whatarestemcells.php

FYI,

Lottie Duthu