Part II, Dr. Kipps' presentation on upcoming Tx

[Guest guest]

4. He mentioned radioimmunoconjugates, which are monoclonal antibodies with

a radioisotope [ex. Zevalin, or Bexxar], as a " smart bomb " . His concern

with those is that leukemic cells in the bone marrow may be adjacent to

other important cells, which also may be killed by the radiation effect.

5. He also mentioned a study currently underway on refractory patients. It

explores the synergy between Rituxan and another steroid (not Prednisone;

something like silamederol?). They have had great success on patients with

damaged bone marrow; a half-dozen patients have been treated, including one

with WBC of approx.1,000,000!

6. He is hopeful to find more agents that are more successful than

Prednisone. He also spoke briefly of chemokines, and a potential synergy

when used with monoclonal antibodies. He discussed as well the " nurse-like "

cells that appear to nurture and shield leukemic cells; he said it appears

that the nurse-like cells appear to recirculate between the spleen and the

bloodstream.

7. Dr. Kipps mentioned Pentostatin, that it too is a purine analog like

Fludarabine. He mentioned Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute has pending a

clinical trial to compare Fludarabine and Penstatin. He also suggested

future trials on combination drugs/MoAbs, Pentostatin with Cytoxan, maybe

with Rituxan as well.

8. He mentioned that the CLL Research Consortium is seeking additional

funding for Clinical Research Centers; he calls this project the CRC2

(squared). He is concerned that some people cannot participate in research

trials because of their insurance funding or because some locations lack

appropriate facilities to perform advanced clinical trials.

Dr. Kipps indicated a financial squeeze on research projects because of

increased defense-oriented projects. He gave us the painful statistic that

since September 11, 2001, five times more people have died of leukemia than

were killed on 9/11.

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Please forgive the sketchiness of these notes; we thought you would still be

interested to hear what we captured, if incompletely. In our disclaimer, we

would also like to express our increased admiration for the writing skills

and scientific, technical know-how of our most prolific contributors; this

is a challenging task.

Carol Colver

CJC131@...

and Lise Rasmussen-

raswrite@...