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Can cancer drugs combine forces?
August 17, 2007Individuals with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are treated first with a drug known as imatinib (Gleevec), which targets the protein known to cause the cancer (BCR-ABL). If their disease returns, because BCR-ABL mutants emerge that are resistant to the effects of imatinib, individuals are treated with a drug known as dasatinib (SPRYCEL), which targets BCR-ABL in a different way. However, patients that relapse after treatment with dasatinib, because BCR-ABL mutants emerge that are resistant to the effects of this drug, are now beginning to be seen in the clinic. Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, now suggest that treating patients with a combination of the drugs might decrease the chance of the cancer returning, or at the very least increase the time before a relapse occurs
In the study, which appears online on August 16 in advance of publication in the September print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Charles Sawyers and colleagues show that 2 of 12 patients whose cancer had returned after treatment with dasatinib responded to retreatment with imatinib. Analysis of the BCR-ABL proteins from these patients revealed that their BCR-ABL had only the dasatinib-resistance mutation. By contrast, the BCR-ABL proteins of the other patients had either a single mutation that rendered the protein resistant to both dasatinib and imatinib or had two mutations, one rendering the protein resistant to imatinib and one rendering the protein resistant to dasatinib. A third drug that can target dasatinib- and imatinib-resitant BCR-ABL is currently in clinical trials. The authors therefore suggest that rather than treating CML patients with the drugs that target BCR-ABL sequentially, they should receive all the drugs when they are first diagnosed with the disease so that the emergence of the drug-resistant forms of BCR-ABL might be prevented, or at least delayed.
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Cancer Drugs Current Events and Cancer Drugs News RSSIressa proves just as effective as chemotherapy for lung cancer
Gefitinib, also known as Iressa, the once-promising targeted therapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, has proven as effective as chemotherapy as a second-line therapy for the disease with far fewer side effects, according to an international Phase III clinical trial, led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Study identifies causes of bone loss in breast cancer survivors
Osteoporosis is a growing concern among breast cancer survivors and their doctors, because certain cancer drugs can cause bone loss.
Stopping germs from ganging up on humans
Keeping germs from cooperating can delay the evolution of drug resistance more effectively than killing germs one by one with traditional drugs such as antibiotics, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.
JDRF funded research shows promise for prevention, reversal of type 1 diabetes
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have reported that two common cancer drugs have been used to block and reverse type 1 diabetes in mice.
Bisphenol A linked to chemotherapy resistance
Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments, say University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists.
Breast cancer treatment resistance linked to signaling pathway
Activation of the Src signaling pathway may cause resistance to standard medical treatment in some patients with breast cancer, and inhibition of this pathway holds the potential to overcome that resistance, according to data presented here at the American Association for Cancer Research Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development meeting.
Nanomedical approach targets multiple cancer genes, shrinks tumors more effectively
Nanoparticles filled with a drug that targets two genes that trigger melanoma could offer a potential cure for this deadly disease, according to cancer researchers.
New role for Natural Killers!
Scientists at the University of York have discovered a new role for a population of white blood cells, which may lead to improved treatments for chronic infections and cancer.
Duke chemists synthesize promising anti-cancer product
Duke University chemists have patented an efficient technique for synthesizing a marine algae extract in sufficient quantities to now test its ability to inhibit the growth of cancerous cells while leaving normal cells unaffected.
Using live fish, new tool a sentinel for environmental contamination
Researchers have harnessed the sensitivity of days-old fish embryos to create a tool capable of detecting a range of harmful chemicals.
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