Despite living in an era of unprecedented progress in the understanding of the genetic and molecular biology of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), this has not translated into significant advances in therapy. Never before have so many potential targets been studied. Yet most have not advanced beyond the phase 1 and, occasionally, phase 2 studies. The few ongoing phase 3 studies seem unlikely to have...

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are currently being approved for marketing in Europe and the United States, as well as other countries, on a regular basis. As more mAbs become available to physicians and patients, keeping track of the number, types, production cell lines, antigenic targets, and dates and locations of approvals has become challenging. Data are presented here for 34 mAbs...

We describe a novel syndrome of severe toxic symptoms during intravascular hemolysis due to impaired hemoglobin scavenging in 2 children with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing CD33-directed therapy with the immunotoxin gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO). A simultaneous high plasma hemoglobin, haptoglobin, and low bilirubin after septicemia-induced intravascular hemolysis indicated abrogated clearance o...

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO, MylotargTM) is an antibody-targeted chemotherapy agent that has been studied in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at first relapse in adults. There is limited experience in pediatric patients. We report six patients with refractory/relapsed CD33+AML who were treated with GO on compassionate-use basis. One patient attained remission. One patient is still alive following hem...

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to determine and verify the stability of 211At-labelled antibodies under physiological conditions and their specific cell-binding capacity for selected epitopes, in order to evaluate the potential of 211At for alpha-radioimmunotherapy. METHODS 211At was produced at the department's cyclotron and was linked via the intermediate 3-211At-succinimidyl-benzo...

The adverse effects of drugs used in the treatment of hematologic malignancies are among the many factors contributing to the increased risk of both thrombosis and bleeding. These effects most often occur when combination of drugs are given. Some, such as L-asparaginase, result in both bleeding and thrombosis. Consideration must be given also to the bleeding or prothrombotic risk of the underly...

As the overall prognosis and treatment response rate to standard chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains poor in the older adult population, there is a need for more effective therapeutic agents with lower toxicity profiles that can be offered to these patients. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) is an anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration ...

Refractory and relapsed disease occurs in most acute myelogenous leukemia patients. Salvage chemotherapy offers a 30-70% chance of a second complete remission. Unfortunately, this second remission is usually short lived and salvage chemotherapy is rarely curative. Allogeneic bone marrow transplant, either human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-sibling matched or matched unrelated donor, is the only trea...