New promising targeted drug for a rare leukemia

Date:
February 23, 2023
Source:
University of Helsinki
Summary:
Researchers have identified a possible new targeted drug for
treating acute myeloid leukemia. In the future, the discovery may
help patients with certain rare subtypes of the disease.


Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Targeted drugs have been developed to supplement chemotherapy in the
treatment of cancer. These drugs only affect cancer cells, leaving
healthy cells alone.

Venetoclax is a new targeted therapy option for the treatment of acute
myeloid leukemia (AML). Venetoclax was recently granted marketing
authorisation in Finland.


========================================================================== Venetoclax works by sensitising cancer cells to programmed cell
death. However, a new study now shows that venetoclax does not appear to
be effective against erythroid and megakaryoblastic leukemias, two rare subtypes of the disease that are difficult to treat. In these leukemia
types, malignant cells resemble blood stem cells that produce red blood
cells or platelets. Currently, few treatment options are available to
these patients.

The study carried out by the University of Helsinki, HUS Comprehensive
Cancer Center and the University of Copenhagen identified a new targeted
drug, which may in the future offer a therapeutic option to patients
with these subtypes of the disease.The study was published in the Blood
journal in December.

Further research needed In the laboratory, the researchers screened a wide selection of pharmaceutical agents that could be effective specifically
against erythroid or megakaryoblastic leukemia cells.

Among the more than 500 agents analysed, BCL-XL protein inhibitors
in particular were effective in killing cancer cells isolated from
these types of leukemia. The BCL-XL protein has a similar function of preventing cells from being driven to programmed cell death as BCL-2,
the target of venetoclax. At the moment, BCL-XL inhibitors are not used
to treat patients, but their efficacy and safety are currently being investigated in clinical trials.

"The introduction of venetoclax has significantly improved the prognosis
of AML patients. However, our research indicates that venetoclax is
unlikely to function optimally against the subtypes of AML in our
focus. Nevertheless, the finding should be verified in larger patient datasets," says physician- scientist Olli Dufva.

Potential to improve prognosis AML is the most common type of acute
leukemia in adults. It can be divided into subtypes based on mutations and
the degree of differentiation of leukemia cells. One challenge associated
with the use of targeted drugs is identifying patients who benefit from
the new drug options. This study contributes to making the selection of targeted drugs more precise.

"The laboratory findings provide evidence that patients with erythroid
or megakaryoblastic acute leukemia would be a promising group for
investigating the efficacy of BCL-XL inhibitors in clinical use," says postdoctoral researcher Heikki Kuusanma"ki.

The researchers believe that BCL-XL inhibitors will be trialled in the treatment of these leukemia types in the near future.

"This finding may in the future improve the prognosis of these very
rare and difficult-to-treat leukemias," says Professor of Translational Haematology Satu Mustjoki from the University of Helsinki and HUS
Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study was funded by the Academy of Finland, Cancer Foundation Finland,
the Finnish Cancer Institute, Sigrid Juse'lius Foundation and the Finnish Medical Foundation. The study was carried out under the iCAN Digital
Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship funded by the Academy of Finland.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Leukemia # Lung_Cancer # Cancer # Brain_Tumor #
Prostate_Cancer # Personalized_Medicine # Lymphoma #
Skin_Cancer
* RELATED_TERMS
o Drug_discovery o Delirium o Stem_cell_treatments o
Pharmaceutical_company o Narcotic o Functional_training o
Huntington's_disease o Esophageal_cancer

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Helsinki. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Heikki Kuusanma"ki, Olli Dufva, Markus Va"ha"-Koskela, Aino-Maija
Leppa",
Jani Huuhtanen, Ida Maria Va"nttinen, Petra Johanna Nygren, Jay
Klievink, Jonas Otto Vilhelm Bouhlal, Petri Po"lo"nen, Qi Zhang,
Shady Adnan Awad, Cristina Mancebo-Pe'rez, Joseph Saad, Juho
J. Miettinen, Komal Kumar Javarappa, Sofia Aakko, Tanja Ruokoranta,
Samuli Eldfors, Merja Heina"niemi, Kim Theilgaard-Mo"nch, Ulla
Wartiovaara-Kautto, Mikko A I Kera"nen, Kimmo Porkka, Marina
Konopleva, Krister Wennerberg, Mika Kontro, Caroline A. Heckman,
Satu Mustjoki. Erythroid/megakaryocytic differentiation confers
BCL-XL dependency and venetoclax resistance in acute myeloid
leukemia. Blood, 2022; DOI: 10.1182/blood.2021011094 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230223132919.htm

--- up 51 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)