Adult Leukemia Research

In the Pipeline and Under Study

As part of the Roswell Park mission to cure cancers of all kinds, we search continually for better treatment methods. We place a high priority on providing more options for patients, to try to raise their clinical outcomes above the current standard of care. All Roswell Park physicians who treat leukemia patients are also research scientists who maintain active laboratory-based research programs.

Research Approaches

Approximately 15-25 clinical studies focused on leukemia are open for enrollment at Roswell Park at any given time, and about half our leukemia patients participate in those studies. Your treating physician will let you know if you are eligible for a study. If so, the decision to enroll will be entirely up to you.

Translational research, which aims to transfer new discoveries to the clinic as quickly as possible, is central to our efforts to help our leukemia patients. It begins in the laboratory, where scientists define an abnormality within a cell and strive to correct it. This is the first step in developing a new treatment.

With many clinical research studies open for leukemia patients at any given time, Roswell Park provides patients with more options to improve their chances for survival. Patients who enroll in clinical research studies are treated in our Clinical Research Center, which maintains the highest level of safety and quickly generates information about potential new treatments. The Center enables us to offer our patients access to treatments that are not widely available. Studies focus on such goals as:

• The development of new drugs for leukemia, especially targeted therapies
• Finding new ways to uses existing cancer drugs or therapies
• The discovery of new targets or pathways we can use to attack the cancer
• Understanding how leukemia cells multiply and discovering ways to stop them

Some of our current studies are examining:

• Whether vitamin D supplements can improve outcomes for patients with acute mylogenous leukemia (AML)
• How low levels of oxygen and the growth of new blood vessels affect acute leukemia
• Genetic characteristics of leukemias
• New and promising treatments for elderly patients with AML

Search available clinical research studies for leukemia patients at Roswell Park, or call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724).