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Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky Religious Groups Join Efforts To Encourage HIV Testing
A Christian-theater troupe and other area religious leaders are participating in HIV testing efforts targeting the black community in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky as part of National HIV Testing Day, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. According to the Enquirer, local public health officials have long struggled to encourage blacks and other groups to get tested for HIV. Increased awareness efforts by black religious leaders and national initiatives - such as the "Test One Million" campaign organized by the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles - have recently focused attention on HIV/AIDS in the black community, Mamie Harris, founder and executive director of IV-Charis, the lead agency in Cincinnati for the "Test One Million" campaign, said (O"Farrell, Cincinnati Enquirer, 6/23).
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Discovery By Toronto Researcher Points To A New Treatment Avenue For Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Dr. John Dick, Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, the research arm of Princess Margaret Hospital, co-led a multinational team that has developed the first leukemia therapy that targets a protein, CD123, on the surface of cancer stem cells that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is an aggressive disease with a poor outcome.
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Older Kidney Transplant Patients Should More Often Consider Live Donors
Almost half of kidney transplant candidates older than 60 who are put on the waiting list for a deceased-donor organ will die before getting a transplant, according to new findings from the University of Florida, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.
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ZymoGenetics Reports Encouraging Preliminary Results From Phase 2 Study Of IL-21 In Metastatic Melanoma Conducted By NCIC

ZymoGenetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZGEN) announced that Interleukin 21 (IL-21) demonstrated an impressive overall response rate in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. In interim Phase 2 results from 24 patients, 29 percent showed a partial response, with an additional 33 percent of patients showing stable disease in this difficult to treat disease. "We are seeing promising anti-tumor response with IL-21 in patients with metastatic melanoma in this Phase 2 study," said Nicole Onetto, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of ZymoGenetics. "The response rate is favorable, particularly when compared to those of approved agents. Patients with advanced melanoma have few effective treatment options, so a clear need exists for new agents to manage this disease." Results from the Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with metastatic melanoma were presented at the World Congress on Melanoma meeting in Vienna, Austria. The single-agent multi-center clinical trial is being conducted by the NCIC Clinical Trials Group in Canada and is evaluating three dosing regimens of IL-21 in patients with no prior systemic therapy for metastatic melanoma. The primary endpoint is efficacy, as measured by objective response or lack of early disease progression. To date 7 of the 24 patients (29%) had a partial response (5 confirmed by RECIST criteria). Eight patients (33%) had stable disease. The most common adverse events were mild or moderate fatigue and rash. Two schedules testing 50 mcg/kg were evaluated in a total of 10 patients but were poorly tolerated due to adverse events including neutropenia and skin rash. The trial will be completed with a full cohort of 30 patients to be treated at the 30 mcg/kg dose, which is tolerable for outpatient dosing and active as assessed by tumor response. About Interleukin 21 (IL-21) IL-21, a cytokine that enhances CD8+ T cell and NK cell activity, has single-agent anti-tumor activity (J Clin Oncol 26:2034, 2008). ZymoGenetics has worldwide rights to IL-21 and is developing IL-21 for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma. ZymoGenetics


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