Active clinical trials for "Leukemia"

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of blood and bone marrow from patients with cancer to study in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about diagnosing cancer and determine a patient's eligibility for a treatment clinical trial. It may also help the study of cancer in the future. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is collecting tissue samples from patients with leukemia or other blood disorders who are planning to enroll in an ECOG leukemia treatment clinical trial.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood and bone marrow from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors predict response in patients previously treated with interleukin-2. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at the relationship between natural killer cells' ability to kill leukemia cells and the outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia previously treated with interleukin-2.

RATIONALE: Gathering information about metabolic syndrome from young patients who have survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may help doctors learn more about the disease. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the metabolic syndrome in young patients who have survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia and in healthy sibling volunteers.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of bone marrow and blood in the laboratory from patients with cancer may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at bone marrow and blood samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

The purpose of this study is to better understand why some women who survived cancer or a related illness later develop diabetes, problems with their cholesterol, or other problems that may lead to heart disease. Because these problems may be related to treatment with total body irradiation and a stem cell transplant, the investigators will compare the rates of obesity, cholesterol problems, and diabetes between women who were treated with total body irradiation and a stem cell transplant and women who were not. The amount and location of fat stores in the abdomen is more important than overall weight or total body fat in the development of diabetes and cholesterol problems. In general, fat can be stored in several areas in the abdomen: around the organs (visceral fat), under the skin (subcutaneous fat), and in the liver (liver fat). People with higher amounts of fat around the organs (visceral fat), even those with a normal weight, are more likely to become diabetic or have high cholesterol. The amount of fat in each of these areas can be measured with an abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, the investigators will use blood tests, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure measurements, and an abdominal MRI to evaluate for several risk factors of heart disease, including cholesterol problems, diabetes and pre-diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and increased abdominal fat.

The purpose of this trial is to see which dose of liposomal amphotericin B is the safest when used as a preventer against invasive fungal infection in patients with acute leukaemia who are undergoing chemotherapy.

Acute leukemia is a life threatening illness that strikes people of all ages. In addition to surviving the direct effects of the disease, the treatment of leukemia generally requires chemotherapy which has its own burden. Infection is one of the most common secondary problems faced by these patients. Simple infections are common and easily treated with aggressive antibiotics. However, treated progressive infection leads to loss of vital organ function and is termed severe sepsis. Severe sepsis is associated with increased risk of death and the need for specialized care in the intensive care unit. Besides the appropriate use of antibiotics, little is known about what clinical and patient factors are associated with the development of severe sepsis. Recent evidence has suggested that certain practices like frequent transfusion of blood products and control of glucose levels effects outcome in critically ill patients. In addition, there have been advances in our knowledge of certain genes that may predispose people to severe infections. It is possible that these factors are important in people who are not yet critically ill, but are at risk for the development of severe sepsis. This observational study will look at genetic, clinical and therapeutic factors that are associated with the development of severe sepsis. This will help doctors understand what treatments may be helpful in preventing this serious complication.

RATIONALE: Questionnaires that measure coping may improve the ability to plan supportive care for patients undergoing donor bone marrow transplant. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying coping in patients who are undergoing a donor bone marrow transplant.

Childhood leukemia is the most common type of childhood cancer and its etiology is largely unknown. Most case-control studies of childhood leukemia have reported elevated risks among children whose parents were occupationally exposed to pesticides or who used pesticides in the home or garden. Investigators at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) conducted a case-control study of childhood leukemia in 35 counties in the San Francisco Bay area and the agricultural Central Valley of California. A major focus of the UCB study is to evaluate whether household or occupational exposure to pesticides increases the risk of childhood leukemia. Our collaboration provided additional funding to collect carpet dust samples for the measurement of pesticides and other chemicals. For 470 participants, we attempted to collect carpet dust using a special high volume small surface sampler (HVS3) vacuum and by taking dust from participants vacuum cleaner. As of July 2006, dust samples will be collected only from participant's vacuum cleaner. Samples were collected at a home visit approximately 3-6 months after the first in-person interview. We will also provide support for mapping of the crops (i.e., determining crop field boundaries and crop species) within 1200 meters (3/4 mile) of residences so that the residential proximity to agricultural fields treated with pesticides can be determined. We will conduct the epidemiologic analysis of pesticide and other chemical levels in carpet dust and risk of childhood leukemia. We will also evaluate whether residential proximity to agricultural pesticide use is associated with risk of leukemia. Further, we will conduct an Exposure Pilot Study that will include a subset of the study population. Two components of the Pilot Study will evaluate how well a used vacuum bag and a window sill wipe predict pesticide and other chemical concentrations in carpet dust samples collected with the more complicated HVS3 vacuum method. The third component will compare pesticides detected in carpet dust with pesticides predicted by geographic proximity to agriculture.

Leukemia holds a special place in the study of radiation-related cancer because bone marrow is one of the tissues most sensitive to the carcinogenic effect of ionizing radiation, radiogenic leukemia has the shortest latent period among radiation-induced cancers, and its appearance suggests that solid tumors may follow. These same characteristics also contribute to its considerable significance in radiation protection. There are, nevertheless, important gaps in existing knowledge of radiation-induced leukemia, gaps that derive from characteristics of the study of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and from studies of the effects of medical irradiation and studies of nuclear workers, these being the studies that have provided most of the information to date. These gaps include the presumed reduction in risk resulting from dose-fractionation and low dose-rate, and the time-response function in the first five years after exposure. The primary objective of this study is to investigate leukemia risk as a function of such radiation; it would constitute the largest epidemiologic study conducted to date among working-age males, a group of particular concern in establishing occupational radiation safety standards. In addition, data on cases of multiple myeloma and myelodysplasia identified in the cohort will be collected to test the hypothesis of a dose related association between radiation and increased risk for each of these diseases. The primary scientific objectives of the proposed study are to test the following hypotheses: (a) that there is a dose-related increase in risk of leukemia among these liquidators; (b) that the magnitude of any observed risk per unit dose is less than that seen in the atomic bomb survivors, exposed to essentially instantaneous radiation. Subsidiary objectives include: (a) to investigate the nature of the dose-response relationship among liquidators and to identify modifiers of risk, including time since exposure, age at exposure, etc.; (b) to test the hypothesis that there is a dose-related increased risk of multiple myeloma; (c) to test the hypothesis that there is a dose-related increased risk of myelodysplasial; (d) to collect and store buccal cells from about 2,000 liquidators with a wide range of dose estimates extending to well over 1 Gy for possible use in future molecular studies of their DNA.