New drug for leukemia

Posted by rob on January 28, 2005 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new drug can help patients whose leukemia is resistant to Gleevec.
Resistance to anti-cancer drugs is unfortunately a fairly common phenomenon. When Gleevec was introduced it was the most successful treatment to date for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) but some patients developed resistance to it.

Researchers at Temple University in the US have now found two more drugs that can help patients with Gleevec resistance. We already know that Gleevec blocks a cancer protein called BCR-ABL. But when this protein mutates, Gleevec doesn’t work. The new drugs target parts of the protein that are not susceptible to mutation. They work in cells and animal models and the researchers intend to proceed to human clinical trials in the near future. It is hoped that if given in combination with Gleevec, the drugs would provide 100 per cent response for patients with CML.

Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences early edition 24th January 2005