Active clinical trials for "Leukemia"

RATIONALE: Studying samples of DNA from patients receiving gemtuzumab ozogamicin may help doctors learn more about the effects of gemtuzumab ozogamicin on cells. It may also help doctors understand how well patients respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This research study is studying biomarkers in DNA samples from younger patients with newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia receiving gemtuzumab ozogamicin.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood and bone marrow from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors predict how well patients will respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at DNA in blood and bone marrow samples from young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The goal of this research study is to determine if it is feasible to collect leukemia cells from patients ahead of time (before they undergo further treatments) so that these cells (after being radiated so they will no longer grow or divide) can be given back to them as a cancer vaccine if/after the participant receives a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant in the future. The purpose of the research study will be to collect, freeze and store leukemia calls from participants blood or bone marrow. This study is a companion study to a vaccine study.

RATIONALE: Gathering information about metabolic syndrome from young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia may help doctors learn more about the disease. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the metabolic syndrome in young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in remission.

This study will examine the risks of workplace exposure to benzene, a substance known to lead to cancer of the blood and possibly of the lungs. It is used widely in industries and is a contaminant in the environment. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the China Center for Disease Control (formerly Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine) had done previous studies of workers in manufacturing industries in China of people who worked at least 1 day from 1972 to 1987 in 12 cities in that country. Data were collected of approximately 75,000 workers exposed to benzene and 35,000 who were not, with the purpose of investigating the relationship between benzene exposure and cancer risk. For workers exposed to benzene, there was a significant risk of cancer affecting the blood cells and a 1.8-fold excess of lung cancer among them. This study will expand those findings and also identify the effects of benzene amounts and whether there is a genetic tendency for benzene poisoning. About 3,860 benzene-exposed workers from the 12 cities will be interviewed. Next-of-kin of deceased workers, and a subcohort (additional grouping) of participants will serve as a control group in the research. Patients who have worked at places where there was exposure to benzene will have a brief physical exam and samples of cells from a mouth rinse and samples from blood will be collected to study the genetic influence on developing blood diseases from workplace exposures. All participants or next-of-kin, for deceased, will be given a questionnaire about their work history, use of cigarettes and hair dyes, medications they take, and family history of cancer. Interviews of about 40 minutes long will be conducted at participants homes or workplaces, at a time convenient to them, and the interviews will be audiotaped.

This is a compassionate use protocol for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have developed hypersensitivity or intolerance to E. coli L-asparaginase and/or PEG-L-asparaginase.

Treatment options and clinical outcomes for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have not improved for more than 40 years. AML patients are still suffering from receiving costly, ineffective chemotherapy treatments with very high chances of bad side effects. The purpose of this study is to take a look at leukemia cells to see if the investigators can learn what makes them up and makes them aggressive and hard to treat. We want to use this information to create new treatments that the investigators hope are more effective and less harmful for AML patients. Newly diagnosed, relapsed or refractory (post induction therapy) AML patients that are 18 years of age or older will have bone marrow and blood samples taken for their regular AML treatment. When these tests are done during their treatment the investigators will need to get some extra blood and bone marrow to do this research. The patients will not be asked to have an extra needle stick or bone marrow biopsy to get these samples. The patients will have the same number of blood and bone marrow tests whether they participate in this study or not. We will only need to get about two teaspoons of blood and two teaspoons of bone marrow each time the patient has these tests during their regular AML treatment. The research the investigators do with these sample will not decide or change the care the patients get for their AML.

Purpose: The involvement of Natural Killer cells (NK) in the efficiency of the treatment in lymphoma and the beginning of new therapies based on function and activation of NK, justify an improvement of knowledge about the status of the population of NK (number, function, genic expression) in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

RATIONALE: Studying samples of tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about cancer and the development of drug resistance in patients. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is examining tissue samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia to learn more about drug resistance in these patients.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at tissue samples from patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.