Science Closing In On Rare Viral Leukemia

Patients with a rare but deadly form of leukemia linked to viral infection may now have reason for hope. Researchers are hot on the trail of medications that could stop the virus, called HTLV-1, from spreading throughout the bloodstream, according to a new study. "It's certainly a few years in the future, but I think the results that we are reporting here are the first big steps in that direction," said lead researcher Suzanne Shuker, a professor of biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta. The findings were to be reported Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif.