Current CML therapy: progress and dilemma.
Rarely has progress in treatment of leukemia been as dramatic and convincing as with the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib.(1) Imatinib induces remissions of CML as fast as hydroxyurea, achieves rates of cytogenetic remissions that by far exceed those induced by interferon alpha and has a toxicity profile as favourable as that of hydroxyurea and much superior to that of interferon alpha.(2) In addition, the causal approach of this new drug, which may well serve as a model for new treatment modalities in other neoplasias is reassuring.
Hehlmann
R
R
III Medizinische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum Mannheim der Universität Heidelberg, Wiesbadener Strasse 7-11, Mannheim D-68305, Germany.
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001549:Benzamides; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl; D006801:Humans; D006918:Hydroxyurea / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001549:Benzamides; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D010879:Piperazines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl; D006918:Hydroxyurea