Prospect of shorter treatment and cure for chronic myelogenous leukemia
Although targeted drugs like Gleevec have revolutionized the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), patients generally must take them for the rest of their lives and may cease benefiting from them over time. In new research that could suggest a road to a cure, scientists at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital have found that CML stem cells die when a protein called Ezh2 is inhibited. Drugs that target the protein are currently in clinical trials for other cancers. The findings, reported online today in the journal Cancer Discovery, raise the prospect that Ezh2 blockers, in combination with Gleevec and similar drugs, could eradicate the disease in some patients relatively rapidly or could be an effective therapy for those who become resistant to Gleevec-like agents, the authors write. In a paper published simultaneously by Cancer Discovery, a team of Scottish scientists report similar findings using a different research approach. “The vast...