Many kids go through the experience of having a parent diagnosed with cancer alone, without a place to express some of their feelings and fears about their parent or relative's illness. St. Joseph Medical Center in Pennsylvania offers a support group for kids with parents who have cancer, begun with support and guidance from national support organization Kids Konnected.

Kids Konnected offers information, care packages, summer camps, and help to local groups wanting to start support groups for kids whose parents have cancer or who have lost a parent to cancer. Visit the Kids Konnect website for more information.

Leukemia is the out-of-control growth and proliferation of certain types of white blood cells. White blood cells have a type of protein receptor on their surface that, when a hormone binds to it, signals the cell to begin dividing, expanding, and reproducing at an abnormally high rate. These abnormal cells are leukemic cells, and up to now scientists have not had a way to stop the uncontrolled reproduction and growth.

Australian scientists recently visualized this very important protein on the surface of the cell, and are now able to target drug development toward making molecules that will block the hormone from binding to the protein receptor, and thus preventing the protein receptor from malfunctioning. While this is a huge step in leukemia research, Dr. Michael Parker from St. Vincent's Institute is not ready to use the word "cure." The molecules to prevent the protein malfunction have to actually be developed, tested, and approved for use in humans. Nevertheless, discoveries like this bring medical science closer all the time to a cure for leukemia.

German researchers from the University Ulm have found methadone to be effective in laboratory tests at killing lines of human myeloid leukemia and lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Methadone destroys the leukemia cells but does not destroy health cells, and may work in cases that have been resistant to prior chemotherapy and radiation. This study was done completely in the laboratory, and the next step for the researchers is to study the effects of the methadone in animals, also referred to as "preclinical trials." After methadone shows effectiveness in diseased animals, clinical trials can begin.

Staying aware of treatments that may be an option in the future allows you or your affected family member to know all the options available to you today and tomorrow. It can also inspire discussions with your doctor about clinical trials that may be appropriate for you, or newer treatments that may have just become available.

The results of a recent study by Dr. Matt Vanderhoek of the University of Wisconsin suggest that a type of PET (positron emission topography) scan may be able to predict early in a course of chemotherapy whether or not the patient is responding. Usually patients with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia undergo an entire cycle of chemotherapy, then have a bone marrow biopsy to find out if the treatment worked. Unfortunately, the biopsy may miss subtle indicators that the cycle of treatment was ineffective, and treatment with a less effective chemotherapy regimen may continue.

By contrast, PET scans work very differently and more precisely to determine a patient's response to chemotherapy. Bone marrow usually appears as a bright area in PET scans, but when a chemotherapy regimen is effective, the bone marrow will appear dark. By scanning patients a few days into the cycle, response to the treatment can be measured and changed if necessary.

Future studies could show applications to other forms of leukemia, and will allow chemotherapy to become more specifically targeted and much more effective, while also requiring fewer bone marrow biopsies. If chemotherapy response is measured this precisely, it may reduce the number of different courses of chemotherapy a patient has to go through.

This study is very new, so PET scan chemotherapy monitoring is not widely available, but Dr. Vanderhoek hopes to conduct a much larger study very soon, and future studies may focus on other types of leukemia. If Dr. Vanderhoek succeeds in launching a larger study, the new technology may be available in a clinical trial. For anyone unfamiliar with clinical trials, our Guide to Patient Empowerment, Trisha Torrey, offers an excellent overview in "Clinical Trials: Learn the Basics."