Symptoms of Chronic Leukemia
Symptoms of Chronic Leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is one of the four most common types of leukemia and is responsible for 15 to 20 percent of all adult leukemia’s. CML is a deadly cancer of the bone marrow cells that causes white blood cells to increase to more than twelve times their limit, at an uncontrollable rate. Normally, this can lead to fatigue, fever, and a fatal 5-year survival rate.
Novartis Oncology Pharmaceuticals, the second largest drug company in the world, with headquarters in Switzerland, is the main company investigating a new drug to cure CML, called STI-571 (Gleevec). This drug has taken on many names such as Glivec, Imatinib Mesylate, CGP57148B, but due to nomenclature issues with the F.D.A., the drug is now named Gleevec.
Novartis’ primary goal of their studies was to discover an ability to treat cancer by eliminating only the cancer cells with minimal or no effects on normal cells. From many years of research, doctors have successfully created the drug Gleevec, which does just that. Gleevec selectively blocks mutant enzymes that cause CML without harming its molecular correspondents.
Gleevec has been put into the class of “cytostatics.” Cytostatics are designed to focus in on cancer cells without harming healthy ones. This is significantly more effective when compared to the normal treatments of leukemia such as radiation and bone marrow transplant.
Specifically, Gleevec disrupts the Abelson kinase (Abl) from its accidental activation. This then leads to CML by activating other proteins by adding phosphate to them in a process called phosphorylation. Kinase plays an important role in regulating cell growth and division. Gleevec inactivates the Abelson kinase by binding to it, thus inhibiting it to reproduce. Gleevec works by blocking signals within cancer cells that contain Abl and prevents a series of chemical reactions that cause or signal the cell to grow and divide.
With these results, doctors agree that with these same ideas, the pill can be adapted to cure various types of other cancers. Gleevec has already been used in clinical trials to cure certain types of brain and stomach cancers.
Gleevec is still at a relatively early phase of clinical testing and has recently been submitted to the F.D.A. for further tests to determine its effectiveness on February 27, 2001. According to the F.D.A., approval for Gleevec can take up to six months before it is available on the market for patients. If...