Lymphoma in the News

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FDA Approves Zevalin® Expanded Label as Part of First-Line Therapy in Treatment of Follicular Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Label Expands Treatable Population To Approximately 43,000 Patients Annually

IRVINE, California – September 4, 2009 –Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGM: SPPI), a commercial-stage biotechnology company with a focus in oncology, today announced ZEVALIN® (ibritumomab tiuxetan), a CD20-directed radiotherapeutic antibody, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an expanded label for the treatment of patients with previously untreated follicular non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), who achieve a partial or complete response to first-line chemotherapy. This new and expanded indication supplements the 2002 FDA approval of ZEVALIN as treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Arthritis and Crohn's Drug Remicade linked to 3 to 6 times increase in lymphoma risk

Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has sent out a letter warning physicians that users of Remicade face an increased risk of developing the deadly cancer lymphoma. Johnson & Johnson reportedly sent out the letter after studies showed that users of Remicade were six times more likely to develop the cancer. Remicade, which is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson's biotechnology unit Centocor, already carries a warning that it can cause serious blood and neurological disorders. The drug, which is based on a monoclonal antibody, is used to treat such autoimmune disorders as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Links found in genes that cause lymphoma

BALTIMORE, May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Using genetically engineered mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have identified a gene that functions as a cancer-causing gene (or oncogene) and may play a key role in the development of aggressive lymphoma and leukemia in children and adults. Their study, published in the May 15 issue of Cancer Research, focused on the HMG-I gene, whose protein product is overexpressed in several human cancers, but whose exact role in the formation and development of these diseases had been unknown. Using seven genetically engineered, or transgenic, mice designed to overexpress the HMG-I gene in the lymphoid tissues and white blood cells, the Hopkins researchers found that each mouse quickly developed cases of aggressive leukemia and lymphoma similar to these diseases in humans.

• Article
• Aggressive Lymphomas

Feb 25, 2004 -- U.S. researchers have found key links between two genes that interact to block the development of cancer of the lymph nodes or lymphoma. Using specially bred laboratory mice, the Mayo Clinic team provided the first evidence the gene CBP is a tumor suppressor -- and its absence contributes to the formation of lymphoma. The absence of CBP speeds up the development of lymphoma. In addition, they found that two compounds -- Cyclin E and Skp2 -- control the levels of the controlling protein, known as p27Kip1. "Cancer is not the result of a single defect, but is related to a combination of defects and events," said lead author Dr. Jan van Deursen.

• Article at MedlinePlus

Hepatitis C Linked to Lymphoma

NEW YORK, July 19 (Reuters) - Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) nearly doubles the risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer involving the lymph nodes, new research suggests.

Dr. Eric A. Engels of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland and colleagues note that studies have shown abnormally high rates of hepatitis C among lymphoma patients, suggesting that the infection raises the risk of lymphoma by chronically stimulating the immune system.

The researchers conclude that there is an association between HCV and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the US and that "HCV infection may be one cause of NHL."

• International Journal of Cancer, Aug 10, 2004

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