AT&T Austin Marathon And Half Marathon ― The two marathon races, sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), will be held on February 15 in Austin, TX. Since 1992, the event has grown to be the sixteenth largest marathon in the United States, with over 10,000 participants each year. For further information, visit the LLS Web site.

Los Angeles Marathon ― The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will sponsor the race on …

Current Trends In Leukemia, Lymphoma, And Myeloma ― On February 7, Physicians’ Education Resources will hold an educational symposium at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel. The focus of the symposium is to provide updates on treatment options for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma originally presented at major national hematology conferences in 2008. The program will also seek to enhance awareness of novel agents that are in development in order to increase the number of patients enrolled in clinical trials. For further information, …

The Bloom: Fashion Show Extravaganza ― Fashion designer Christine Phillips will donate the proceeds of her annual fashion show to the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF). Hosted by NBC 10’s Monique Braxton, the fashion show will be held on January 31, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. For further information or to register, visit the Christine Phillips Web site.

Fifth Annual Charity Art Show & Wine Tasting ― …

Scientists have recently developed an assay to diagnose and monitor patients with low levels of immunoglobulin, including multiple myeloma patients. Immunoglobulin is a marker commonly used to diagnose and follow the progression of multiple myeloma. This new assay, which can detect low levels of serum immunoglobulin, is known as a free light chain (FLC) assay.

Measurements of immunoglobulin levels are often determined through several types of electrophoresis tests. While these techniques are sufficient for most patients, they are inadequate …

Update: The results published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute article have been called into question in a letter to the Editor. Based on results of the meta-analysis, researchers concluded that single and tandem stem cell transplantations produced comparable overall survival and event-free survival rates. The meta-analysis included a study published by the Abdelkefi research group that demonstrated a “dramatic benefit” of single transplantation over tandem. However, this study has been retracted because it contains “biologically implausible …

Milestones In Myeloma – The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will hold a dinner program on January 13, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Johnny Carino’s restaurant in Austin, TX. Guest speaker Dr. Punit Chadha from Texas Oncology will discuss current and emerging myeloma drug therapies, management of disease and treatment-related side effects, and emotional aspects and support of myeloma. For more information, visit the LLS Web site.

Long-term follow-up results of two stem cell transplantation trials were presented at the 2008 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting. The trials were conducted from April 2000 to April 2004 in high risk de novo multiple myeloma patients. De novo multiple myeloma refers to the first occurrence of cancer in the body.

The two trials compared autologous transplantation followed by non-myeloablative allotransplantation (trial IFM99-03) with tandem (double) autologous transplantation (trial IFM99-04).  In the autologous transplantation procedure, a patient's stem cells …