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Important advances have been made in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). In the past two decades, treatment of this disease has changed and now includes the use of hydroxyurea, interferon, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and high-dose chemotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Because several relatively effective forms of therapy now exist, the care and management of patients with CML has become more complex. Through continued research and drug development, additional therapies are expected to emerge offering new hope and expanded treatment options for patients with CML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the factors that motivated several nurses to write for publication. Importance of the internal motivation to share his or her knowledge with others; Misconceptions that prevent a number of nurses to write for publication.

An abstract of the article "A Phase I Study of Antitumor Vaccination Using Genetically Modified Tumor Cells Expressing α(1,3)Galactosyltransferase in Patients with Refractory or Recurrent Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): Preliminary Results," by John C. Morris and colleagues is presented.

Background: Patients with advanced melanoma have a poor outcome. We hypothesize that combination immunotherapy can synergistically activate host immunity to generate an effective treatment for patients with high-risk, resected stage 3, recurrent, refractory, or stage 4 melanoma., Methods: We conducted a phase 2 clinical trial of HyperAcute Melanoma (HAM) vaccine (NLG-12036, NewLink Genetics) combined with pegylated interferon (Sylatron, Merck). Trial design consisted of a 12-week regimen with the initial 4 weekly treatments consisting of HAM alone (intradermally) followed by 8 additional treatments of HAM plus Sylatron (subcutaneously, 6 μg/kg). Trial endpoint outcomes include clinical response, overall safety, and correlative findings for observed antitumor effect., Results: Our cohort consisted of 25 patients with a median age of 60. Twenty-one patients completed the trial and 4 stopped because of progressive disease (PD). According to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, of the 16 stage 4 patients, 2 had a complete response (CR), 1 had stable disease, and 4 had no evidence of disease (NED) after resection. For stage 2/3 patients, 3 of 9 remained NED, and the 1 stage 2C patient had slow PD with a single site resected and is currently NED. The median overall survival time was 29 months, with 60% of the patients surviving for >1 year. Of the 25 patients, 12 (48%) are still alive. All evaluable patients (21/21) seroconverted, developing autoimmune antibodies. Four of 25 patients developed vitiligo, correlating with 2 CR patients and 2 NED patients., Conclusion: Combination immunotherapy with HAM plus Sylatron shows clinical efficacy with tumor regression and concomitant immune activation. Optimization of dosing schedules and therapeutic efficacy should be further explored to enhance the benefit of this promising immunotherapeutic approach.