New drugs in acute myeloid leukemia.
Standard treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) results in a median survival of approximately 1 year. Together with increasing understanding of the biology of AML, this has led to the introduction of many new anti-AML drugs. Here we discuss the most prominent of these: clofarabine, epigenetic-acting agents, gemtuzumab ozogamycin, and FLT3 inhibitors. All are indubitably active. However, their therapeutic efficacy relative to each other and to standard therapy is unclear. The future is likely to see combinations of the drugs with each other and with more standard therapies. There also will be a shift away from inquiring which therapy is best for the average patient to inquiring which therapy is best for a given patient with a specific constellation of disease markers.
Estey
Elihu
E
Clinical Research Division Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Department of Hematology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. eestey@comcast.net <eestey@comcast.net>
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001087:Arabinonucleosides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077866:Clofarabine; D000077209:Decitabine; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000079982:Gemtuzumab; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides; D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001087:Arabinonucleosides; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D000077866:Clofarabine; D000077209:Decitabine; D000079982:Gemtuzumab; C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3; D001374:Azacitidine