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Study suggests solutions to reduce the risk of relapse for chronic myeloid leukemia
http://www.topcancernews.com/news/1254/1/Study-suggests-solutions-to-reduce-the-risk-of-relapse-for-chronic-myeloid-leukemia
Published on 09/11/2007
 



Chronic myeloid leukemia is usually treated first with a imatinib (Gleevec) that targets the protein BCR-ABL.

If there is a recurrence due to resistance to the imatinib, individuals are then treated with dasatinib (SPRYCEL), which targets in BCL-ABR in a different way. Unfortunately, resistance to dasatinib is now being seen.

A study by researchers led by Charles Sawyers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center suggests that treating patients with both drugs in the beginning might decrease the chance of recurrence or at the very least, increase the time before such a relapse occurs. The authors suggest that treating patients with both drugs at first may prevent the emergence of the drug-resistant forms.

A third drug that can target both dasatinib- and imatinib resistant BCR-ABL is currently in trials.


The main source for this article is TheCancerBlog