ASH to Host Agenda-Setting Scientific Meeting on Lymphoma Biology

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world's largest professional organization dedicated to the causes and treatments of blood disorders, will hold its first ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology, a meeting focused on furthering the treatment of lymphoma, August 10-13 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. More than 350 lymphoma experts from around the world will attend the meeting to share cutting-edge findings in the field and establish a visionary agenda to accelerate the development of new approaches to understanding and eradicating lymphoma.

Nearly half of all blood cancer cases are lymphomas, or cancers of the lymphatic system. While these diseases are now treatable in many patients and curable in some, the causes of lymphoma are still unknown. The recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals of several targeted drugs to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia, blood cancers which will account for an estimated 123,000[i] new cancer cases this year in the United States, demonstrate that basic understanding of lymphoma biology can lead to improved therapies for patients.

The goal of the ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology is to serve as a forum for scientists to share their knowledge of the biology of this disease and identify the research priorities that they feel will translate to intervention strategies for lymphoma and other cancers affecting the blood.  

Data from more than 150 abstracts revealing new insights into lymphoma biology will be presented at the ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology, including some that feature updates from presentations from the 2013 ASH Annual Meeting. Examples of the exciting science to be presented include studies exploring a promising therapeutic target for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a new oral therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and resistance to ibrutinib.

In addition to abstract presentations, the ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology will feature interactive sessions led by more than 30 renowned speakers. Klaus Rajewsky, MD, of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin will deliver the meeting's keynote address on immune regulation and cancer.

Following the meeting ASH will release a white paper summarizing past and present lymphoma research breakthroughs and establishing a collaborative roadmap of key lymphoma research priorities to be shared with investigators and funding agencies.

"The ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology, an ASH scientific meeting focused exclusively on basic and translational lymphoma research advances, underscores the Society's commitment to fostering critical collaboration among lymphoma experts that will help conquer this disease," said ASH President Linda J. Burns, MD, of the University of Minnesota. "Attendees will have a unique opportunity to help chart the course of future lymphoma research and will come away with a better understanding of the disease."

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (www.hematology.org) is the world's largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. For more than 50 years, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. The official journal of ASH is Blood (www.bloodjournal.org), the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, which is available weekly in print and online

[i] SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Leukemia. Accessed from http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/nhl.html and http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/leuks.html. (Accessed 7/2014)

SOURCE American Society of Hematology