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22.01.2010
Drug that modifies gene activity could help some older leukemia patients
Jan. 12, 2010 -- Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The researchers say the findings support further investigation of the drug, decitabine, as a first-line treatment for these patients, who have limited treatment options.
Almost two-thirds of AML patients over age 65 do not receive treatment for the disease because standard therapy can be risky and often is ineffective. On average, such patients survive only 1.7 months after diagnosis.
"Older leukemia patients don't have good treatment options because the chemotherapy and stem cell transplants that we commonly use for younger patients are often too toxic for them," says lead author Amanda F. Cashen, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Oncology and a bone marrow transplant specialist with the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
"Furthermore, the biology of acute leukemia in the older patient population is different, making their response rate lower, their risk of relapse higher and their cure rates lower," she says. "So we definitely need new therapies in that patient population - treatments that are going to be both better tolerated and more effective."
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