aml treatment | New Leukemia Treatment Approaching Bright Point

New Leukemia Treatment Approaching Bright Point


acute myeloid leukemia prognosis
leukemia in children
types of leukemia

leukemia treatment

myelocytic leukemia
chronic leukemia | ¿Qué es leukemia lymphocítica crónica?
myelogenous leukemia




Brisbane scientists have found a promising drug for the treatment of leukemia.
New Leukemia Treatment Approaching Bright Point Illustration (Thinkstockphoto)
Two scientists from Brisbane managed to find a promising new treatment for patients with leukemia or malignant blood cancer.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) annually kills about 1,000 Australians. In general, patients with this disease rarely managed to save their lives through chemotherapy treatment method.

Leukemia

But the team at QIMR Berghofer succeeded in creating a drug that is expected to at least prolong the life expectancy of AML patients and may even cure the disease.

Dr. Steven Lane, head of the Leukemia Translation Research Laboratory, said the pre-clinical test of the Imetelstat drug was able to prevent the proteins needed in the formation by leukemia stem cells.

"This research found that by switching off a gene called telomerase, the cancer cells become unstable and eventually the cells will die," said Dr. Lane.

The test also found that Imetelstat drugs may delay or prevent the recurrence of AML after undergoing chemotherapy methods.

Dr. Lane and his colleagues in the study, Dr. Claudia Breudigam presented their findings before the American Society of Haemotology in San Francisco. Both hope that testing this drug in humans will be done within 12-18 months and will involve AML patients from Brisbane.

"The first group of patients we want to help is those who are patients who can not undergo chemotherapy treatment," said Dr. Lane.

"And that includes the elderly AML patients or patients who have tried other types of treatment and the AML recurred," he said.

Imetelstat is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of other types of cancer drugs in the US. The US Food and Drug Administration has revoked the ban on the drug after allegations that it could trigger poisoning of the liver.

Dr. Lane said the US authorities need to weigh the risks and benefits of the drug. "When we really have no choice and there is a disease that causes the patient to die within a few months, then we should be prepared to take risks as far as is possible in clinical trials.