Jefferson Scientists Found Way that Might Sidestep Gleevec Resistance
September 22, 2006 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Once more, the miracle drug Gleevec, takes center stage.
The leukemia drug Gleevec, though hugely successful has some downsides too: heart failure in a few patients as shown in previous studies and now, drug resistance continues to be a problem.
Now, Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University may have discovered a way to sidestep such resistance by reactivating a protein that is normally shut off in leukemia and in Gleevec-resistant cancer cells, leukemia development is halted.
A drug that could turn on the gene that makes the protein C/EBP-alpha, a “transcription factor” required for cells to differentiate, then, might control or even eliminate the cancer.
According to Bruno Calabretta, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cancer biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University:
Transcription factors are molecular switches that turn on genes when their function is needed. C/EBP-alpha expression is low in leukemia cells such as those with the BCR-ABL protein defect, which causes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a disease that Gleevec treats so well.
Gleevec is a novel cancer drug developed to fight cancer by turning off an enzyme that causes cells to become cancerous and multiply and is normally prescribed for patients early on in CML (characterized by an overabundance of white blood cells).
Read more details from the full report at EurekAlert.
