Independence from Cancer on July 4th

This Fourth of July holiday, we’re not only celebrating the red, white and blue that honors the independence and freedom of our country, but also freedom from cancer and the cancer “blues.” Feeling this sense of freedom may mean that you’re cancer-free or that you’re unwilling to let a cancer diagnosis define you.

To be cancer-free means that tests show no evidence of any cancer remaining in the body, a term coined “complete remission.” In some cases, it is possible to complete treatment but still have some evidence of the cancer. This is called “partial remission.”

At Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, many of our patients and their families experience a wide range of emotions during and after cancer treatment. Often, freedom from cancer is both something to celebrate and something that comes with an air of caution. That’s because the joy of being cancer-free may be accompanied by fear that the cancer may return.

Fighting cancer is a tremendously emotional experience, so take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. For patients dealing with any cancer diagnosis, Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian offer a patient support group on the first and third Thursday of every month from 12-1p.m. For more information about this safe and supportive place for those dealing with any cancer diagnosis, please contact Susan Marchal at (212) 746–9039.

Have a wonderful holiday!

This article originally appeared on “What’s New In GU?,” a blog from the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Genitourinary (GU) Oncology Program. 

Newly-Opened Clinical Trial for People with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Dr. Gail J. Roboz is the principal investigator for a new immunotherapy clinical trial at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian for people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The clinical trial is evaluating engineered CAR-T cells, UCART123, that have been specially engineered in the laboratory to be able to target a molecule on the surface of leukemia cells called CD123. It is hoped that the T cells will be able to destroy the CD123 positive leukemia cells and lead to remission in selected patients with AML. 

Contact us or click here to learn more: http://bit.ly/2rpQso8

Dr. Gail Roboz to Lead Clinical Trial in AML for Novel Immunotherapy, UCART123

In the summer of 2015, Weill Cornell Medical College and Cellectis, a French pharmaceutical company, announced a translational research collaboration for a new allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy called UCART123. This “off-the-shelf” product is a directed immunotherapy for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer. T cells are harvested from healthy donors and engineered to target the CD123 antigen, which is found on AML blast and stem cells, as well as tumor cells in another aggressive malignancy, blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN).

The clinical trial of UCART123 in AML is being led by principal investigator Dr. Gail J. Roboz, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Leukemia Program at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. Translational scientific studies for the trial are being conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Monica Guzman, Associate Professor of Pharmacology in Medicine, also at Weill Cornell. Clinical research on UCART123 in BPDCN will be led by Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju and Dr. Hagop Kantarjian at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Stay tuned for more updates regarding the new phase 1 clinical trial for UCART123 to be initiated here at the Leukemia Program in the coming months.