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Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in collaboration with scientists from eleven leading leukemia centers are working with Wyeth-Ayerst Research and Celltech Chiroscience PLC to study CMA-676, an antibody-drug conjugate that delivers chemotherapy treatment directly to leukemia cells. The experimental agent, CMA-676, induces remission in a significant proportion of patients with few serious side effects. CMA-676 represents the first successful application of antibody-targeted chemotherapy.

Scientists at the Sanger Centre in Cambridge, England, and an international team of researchers have identified nearly all of the DNA that makes up chromosome 22. The sequencing of chromosome 22 may lead to a better understanding of a number of disorders, including schizophrenia, that appear to be related to a defect in genes found on the chromosome.

Berlin based Epigenomics GmbH has announced the initiation of the Human Epigenome Consortium (HEC), that includes researchers from the Sanger Center (Hinxton, UK), the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin), the Centre National de Genotypage (France), the Technical University of Berlin, Medeea GmbH (Hamburg), and the German Cancer Research Institute (Heidelberg). The consortium was established to fill the void that will be left even after the completion of the human genome project (HUGO) in 2000, as well as the SNP-consortium. The HEC will develop integrated technologies that provide an individual's epigenotype or digital phenotype.

The National Cancer Institute has launched a new 5-year initiative to define the patterns of molecular changes in tumors called " The Director's Challenge: Toward a Molecular Classification of Tumors." The new tumor classification schemes will more accurately reflect an individual patient's risk of the cancer progressing. As part of the initiative, investigators will work collaboratively, with the assistance of NCI staff, to identify ways to represent research data, so that other cancer researchers can interpret and analyze it. They also will develop strategies for publicly releasing research data.

Molecular Biology - November 1999
Molecular Biology - October 1999
Molecular Biology - September 1999