A preview of hot topics from the world’s leading hematology conference

Diane Gambill, PhD, is CURE's senior scientific advisor and chief scientific officer for Physician's Education Resource and Cancer Information Group. As senior scientific adviser for CURE, I am constantly looking for new, cutting-edge information from the clinical research arena that I can share with our readers. In early December, I'll be tweeting "live" from the American Society for Hematology meeting in New Orleans so that we can share this information with you as it happens! Follow us on Twitter @cure_today, and sign up for one of our blood cancer e-newsletters to get the latest news from the meeting. We'll give you a first look at information that is expected to change the way some blood cancers are treated and give you a glimpse at interesting research expected to improve the way we treat blood cancers in the near future. Here's a sneak peek at some of the news from this year's meeting, which starts December 5:> Great strides continue to be made in understanding the biology and natural history of blood cancers. These advances allow clinicians to choose so-called risk-adapted treatments for patients. Interestingly, the individualized approach to managing blood cancers has fostered advances in relatively rare diseases, and it promises to be an interesting year for new treatment strategies for patients with relatively uncommon blood cancers.> A study from Italy on acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) was chosen for the plenary session, where the most important studies from this year's ASH meeting will be featured. APL is related to acute myeloid leukemia and the myelodysplastic syndromes. You can read more about MDS in CURE's feature, "Treatment Boost for MDS," from 2006.> Two new drugs have recently been approved for T-cell lymphoma (TCL), a relatively rare type of lymphoma. For peripheral TCL, Folotyn (pralatrexate) is the first drug approved for this enigmatic disease. (Read more about the approval here.) There will be new information available on clinical trials with Folotyn, including how clinicians can manage adverse events from this drug. For cutaneous TCL, a new histone deacetylase inhibitor called Istodax (romidepsin) is now available, and we will hearing more about how this agent can be used in the clinic. (Read more about the approval of Istodax here.) Look for more from CURE on these and other exciting new findings in the more common lymphomas, leukemias, and myeloma as the stories unfold the first week in December. We look forward to your comments and questions!