2010.09.15 – Board provides info on rare blood cancer
http://standardspeaker.com/news/board-provides-info-on-rare-blood-cancer-1.1012538
Published: September 15, 2010
2010.09.15 – Board provides info on rare blood cancer
SPECIAL TO THE STANDARD-SPEAKER Joseph Murphy, an advisor to the Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee, talks about a public display board at Tamaqua Borough Hall was developed by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to provide accurate and easy-to-understand information about polycythemia vera.
By TOM RAGAN
The Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee is making an effort to educate the public about this rare but treatable form of blood cancer found at elevated levels in Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon counties.
The new health outreach board was recently unveiled at a news conference held in Tamaqua, Mayor Christian Morrison said.
“We all believe that we lost people in our area that did not even know they had polycythemia vera,” Morrison said.
A public display board at Tamaqua Borough Hall was developed by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the request of the committee to provide accurate and easy-to-understand information about polycythemia vera, Morrison said.
The display board will be moved to other locations in the future, Morrison said.
The Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee will host a public meeting on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Tamaqua High School Auditorium, 500 Penn St., Tamaqua.
Morrison said area residents will be able to meet with research teams conducting studies to learn more about the many cases of polycythemia vera in the area and their possible causes.
“Data will be available to the public from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Geisinger and researchers from Drexel University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York,” Morrison said.
The Tamaqua mayor said they will have handbills available for the public at the Sept. 22 meeting.
The studies were made available through two grants totaling $8 million secured by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, Morrison said.
The committee passed a resolution honoring Specter at its June 30 meeting.
“Each of the agencies will have an overview on the studies taking place,” Morrison said.
He said a lot of the data will also point to a five-year review being conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the McAdoo Associates Superfund site in Kline Township and McAdoo.
The site once was linked to abnormally high cases of cancer but EPA officials say that there is no evidence of site-related cancers.
tragan@standardspeaker.com
Polycythemia vera (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Polycythemia vera is a blood disorder in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. Polycythemia vera may also result in the overproduction of white blood cells and platelets. Most of the health concerns associated with polycythemia vera are caused by a blood-thickening effect that results from an overproduction of red blood cells.
Contents
1 Epidemiology
2 Symptoms
3 Diagnosis
4 Treatment
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Can people can be genetically susceptible to P. vera?
Myeloproliferative neoplasms – personal stories | Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
People can be genetically susceptible to the series of rare blood cancers
Professor Nick Cross and his team at the University of Southampton have shown that people can be genetically susceptible to the series of rare blood cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). His team have identified a particular area of the patient’s DNA which is prone to developing mutations.
Professor Cross discovered that a particular region of chromosome 9 that carries the JAK2 gene is predisposed to acquiring mutations, but only in individuals with a particular genetic makeup. It is likely that this finding will lead to a much better understanding of how the JAK2 gene mutations happen and why they lead to an increased risk of someone developing an MPN.
The team at the laboratory, which is part of the University of Southampton, found that people carrying this mutation-prone region of DNA on chromosome 9, which includes the JAK2 gene, have triple the risk of developing a MPN.
The link is especially strong in polycythaemia vera (PV), one of the main three MPNs. Professor Cross says: “Our research provides strong evidence that at least half of the cases of PV diagnosed each year are linked to an inherited genetic variant on chromosome 9. Whilst this risk is still very small it nonetheless confirms that individual susceptibility is linked to genetic inheritance. “
PA Department of Health Announces Blood Disorder Study in Southwestern Pennsylvania
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/department-of-health-announces-blood-disorder-study-in-southwestern-pennsylvania-97667524.html
Department of Health Announces Blood Disorder Study in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Residents with Polycythemia Vera in Bedford, Blair, Cambria and Somerset Counties Encouraged to Participate
HARRISBURG, Pa., July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Pennsylvania Department of Health today announced a new, federally-funded study on the blood disorder Polycythemia vera, or PV, in Bedford, Blair, Cambria and Somerset counties.
Residents of these counties who were diagnosed with PV between 2001 and 2008 are eligible to participate in the study and will be compensated.
PV is a blood disorder that causes bone marrow to produce too many red blood cells, resulting in what is commonly referred to as “thick blood.” People with PV can sometimes be at increased risk for blood clots, heart attack or stroke. However, there are other disorders that also result in an excess of red blood cells. The other disorders are referred to as secondary polycythemia. It may be difficult to distinguish PV from the other disorders.
The purpose of the new study is to evaluate the information the department receives from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry on people who have been diagnosed with PV. Persons asked to take part in the study are those with PV reported to the state cancer registry as well as those identified by local physician offices.
A 2008 study of PV in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties in northeast Pennsylvania found a greater number of PV cases than would ordinarily be expected in the three-county area. However, the investigation also showed that some of the cases reported to the state cancer registry as PV were inaccurate, and some cases of PV had never been reported at all. This problem made it difficult to accurately determine the prevalence of PV in the area. It is important to know whether similar PV diagnosis problems exist in other parts of the state.
The four-county area in the southwestern part of the state was chosen because it shares many similar features with the tri-county area of northeast Pennsylvania; not because there appears to be an excess of PV. The similarities include population size, geography and environment.
To help diagnose PV, patients who agree to participate will be interviewed about their health, medical history and environmental exposures. They will also have a blood sample collected to look for the presence of a genetic marker known as JAK2 in their blood cells. More than 90 percent of patients confirmed with PV have the JAK2 genetic marker in their blood cells. Results of the JAK2 test will be available to the patient and their doctor, but will otherwise be kept confidential.
The Department of Health is working with the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to carry out the study. All PV patients in the four-county area who are listed in the state cancer registry and those identified through area physicians will be contacted by the University of Pittsburgh and asked to take part in the study. A nurse representative from the University of Pittsburgh will visit the participant’s home to administer the survey and collect a blood sample. Knowing the JAK2 marker is present may help a doctor to more carefully monitor a patient’s blood counts.
For more information on PV or the 2008 study of the northeast Pennsylvania tri-county area, visit http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/polycythemia_vera/index.html.
To learn about the University of Pittsburgh’s upcoming study on PV or to find out about participating in the study, please contact Dr. Paula A. Balogh, FNP, of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health at 412-623-5901 or e-mail pvstudy@pitt.edu.
Media contact: Holli Senior, 717-787-1783
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health