Leukemias and Lymphomas

Leukemias and lymphomas are cancers which affect the cells which are part of the fluids circulating around the body.

Leukemias affect certain blood cells, particularly the white cells, or "leukocytes" which help fight off infections and disease.

And lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system, a network of vessels which form part of the body's immune system, and carry other infection-fighting cells called "lymphocytes", as well as draining dead cells away from the tissues.

There are several different types of leukemia, classed mainly according to the way the cancer develops, and the variety of white blood cells they affect.

There are two principal kinds of lymphoma - Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's - the latter is more common, and also slightly harder to treat.

Professor Peter Johnson, an expert in lymphomas from the University of Southampton, who carries out work for Cancer Research UK is hopeful that new chemotherapy and radiotherapy techniques will help improve survival rates in lymphoma.

He said: "The sorts of treatment we are investigating in the future centre around on how we can stir the body's immune system into recognising that the lymphoma is there.

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Source: www.news.bbc.co.uk

Got new ideas for cancer research? You could win a million dollars, if you have one!

Medical researchers teamed up with hedge fund managers on Wednesday to offer a new million-dollar prize for the best new idea for cancer research in the hopes of kick-starting innovative approaches.

They invited cancer experts, scientists and the general public to join an Internet-based club and compete for the Gotham Prize for Cancer Research.

Federal funding of cancer research has been flat, and is in fact lower than in recent years when inflation is taken into account, said Dr. Gary Curhan of Harvard Medical School.

And the system of seeking grants -- money to do research -- is based around pleasing either National Institutes of Health supervisors or gatekeepers at the advocacy organizations that pay for research on specific types of cancer, he said.

Curhan teamed up with hedge fund managers Joel Greenblatt and Robert Goldstein of private investment firm Gotham Capital to set up the prize club, found at http://www.gothamprize.org/

"The goal here is to open up the site to people with ideas," Curhan told reporters in a telephone briefing. "The winners of these prizes are not going to be those who are successful in evaluating the idea. It is going to be the person with the best idea."

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How cancer metastasis?

Metastasis is the spread of cancer from its primary location to other places in the body through blood streams and lymphatic vessels. This animated video shows how cancer can metastasis and spread to other areas in the body.

Reoviruses to the rescue of cancer patients!

Reovirus is a family of viruses that affects the gastrointestinal or respiratory system in humans. Reovirus infections are common in humans and in most cases they are mild or sub clinical.

Scientists have now discovered that reoviruses can indeed be very useful to humans, as they have the ability to destroy cancerous tumor cells. This short clip explains how reoviruses can be used to treat cancer in humans.