ASCO: JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib has promising efficacy in CMML patients
Phase I study of ruxolitinib resulted in no dose-limiting toxicities and improved symptoms in CMML patients
2015-05-28
(Press-News.org) TAMPA, Fla. - Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a rare type of myelodysplastic, myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by increased numbers of peripheral monocytes and less than 20 percent blasts. CMML has few treatment options and patients only survive on average for 12 to 24 months. Preclinical studies suggest that JAK2 inhibitors may be an effective treatment option for CMML. Eric Padron, M.D., assistant member of the Malignant Hematology Program at Moffitt Cancer Center will report on the first phase 1 study of the JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib in CMML patients at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The Moffitt team and their collaborators performed a dose-escalation study of ruxolitinib in 19 CMLL patients. Ruxolitinib displayed minimal toxicity, with no dose-limiting toxicities observed and only one grade 3 or higher adverse event.
Efficacy data suggest that ruxolitinib is a promising treatment option for CMML patients. Out of fifteen patients who were evaluable for response, 3 displayed hematologic improvement and 1 patient had a partial response. Nine of the patients entered the trial with an enlarged spleen, and 5 of these patients had a greater than 50 percent reduction in their spleen size.
Ruxolitinib may be particularly beneficial for patients who have B symptoms, as 10 out of 11 patients with disease related symptoms had a clinically meaningful or complete resolution of their symptoms.
The researchers determined a phase 2 recommended dose of 20 mg twice a day, and a phase 2 study of ruxolitinib in CMML patients is planned.
The data from the phase 1 trial of ruxolitinib in CMML patients will be presented during a poster discussion session on Sunday, May 31, 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. in room E354b and during the poster session from 8-11:30 a.m. in S Hall A.
INFORMATION:
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt is the top-ranked cancer hospital in the Southeast and has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of the "Best Hospitals" for cancer care since 1999. With more than 4,500 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact in Florida of nearly $1.6 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-05-28
TAMPA, Fla. - The monoclonal antibody nivolumab has shown promise as a therapeutic agent, particularly by improving the survival rates of melanoma patients. Jeffrey S. Weber, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center at Moffitt Cancer Center will be presenting data from a retrospective analysis of the safety of nivolumab in 4 ongoing phase I-III studies in melanoma patients at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Nivolumab targets a protein called the programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor. The ...
2015-05-28
Many living things can respond to electric fields, either moving or using them to detect prey or enemies. Weak electric fields may be important growth and development, and in wound healing: it's known that one of the signals that guides cells into a wound to repair it is a disturbance in the normal electric field between tissues. This ability to move in response to an electric field is called galvanotaxis or electrotaxis.
UC Davis dermatology professor Min Zhao, Peter Devroetes at Johns Hopkins University and colleagues hope to unravel how these responses work, studying ...
2015-05-28
Unstable funding is threatening the viability of academic biomedical research in this country, according to a new paper published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The paper was written jointly by the deans of 19 prominent medical schools around the country. Among this group is University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece.
"We must reinvigorate the federal-academic partnership for research across all sciences," the authors write. If the current trends in funding continue, both established investigators and early-career scientists ...
2015-05-28
CHICAGO (May 28, 2015): Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death among people under age 45, but if trauma physicians could deliver plasma to these injury victims within minutes of their arrival in the emergency room, more of them would stand a better chance of survival.
When they arrive at the hospital, trauma victims can often wait 30 minutes or longer to receive plasma because the traditional way of giving them plasma involves two time-consuming steps: testing for blood type and then thawing frozen plasma. "There's a golden hour after trauma where you need to ...
2015-05-28
Using a complex modeling program that helps analyze the physical dynamics of large, structurally complex protein molecules, a research team has made progress towards finding a weak spot in the architecture of a group of enzymes that are essential to antibiotic resistance in a number of bacteria.
In an article published in PLOS ONE, University of North Carolina at Charlotte senior biology major Jenna R. Brown and her faculty mentor, UNC Charlotte professor of bioinformatics and genomics Dennis R. Livesay, present an analysis of the four currently known protein structures ...
2015-05-28
Immune cells play an important role in the upkeep and repair of our bodies, helping us to defend against infection and disease. Until now, how these cells detect a wounded or damaged site has largely remained a mystery. New research, led by University of Bristol academics in collaboration with a team from the University of Sheffield, has identified the triggers which lead these cells to react and respond in cell repair.
It is hoped the findings, published in Current Biology, could help scientists design therapies to manipulate the cell repair process and direct immune ...
2015-05-28
Flies might be smarter than you think. According to research reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 28, fruit flies know what time of day it is. What's more, the insects can learn to connect different scents with the sweet reward of sugar, depending on the hour: menthol in the morning and mushrooms in the afternoon.
Researchers say that the findings show the surprising mental abilities of animals, no matter how small.
"If even the fly, with its miniature brain, has the sense of time, most animals may have it," says Martin Heisenberg of Rudolf Virchow ...
2015-05-28
Controlling bacterial infections responsible for typhoid fever could dramatically reduce the risk of gallbladder cancer in India and Pakistan, according to a study published by Cell Press May 28th in Cell Host & Microbe. The findings establish for the first time the causal link between bacterial infection and gallbladder cancer, explaining why this type of cancer is rare in the West but common in India and Pakistan, where typhoid fever is endemic. Public policy changes inspired by this research could have an immediate impact on preventing a type of cancer that currently ...
2015-05-28
The chemical rapamycin is used clinically as an immunosuppressant and as an anti-cancer agent that works by inactivating a protein named TOR (Target Of Rapamycin). This protein is essential for the growth of normal cells, but is hyperactive in tumor cells. To be able to carry out its various growth-related tasks, TOR needs to assemble into one of two larger protein complexes named TORC1 and TORC2. Curiously, whereas TORC1 is inhibited by rapamycin, TORC2 is unaffected by this drug. The team of Robbie Loewith, professor in biology at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, ...
2015-05-28
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke Medicine researchers have found that bladder cells have a highly effective way to combat E. coli bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs).
In a study published online May 28, 2015, in the journal Cell, Duke researchers and their colleagues describe how bladder cells can physically eject the UTI-causing bacteria that manage to invade the host cell.
This response is analogous to having indigestion and vomiting to rid the stomach of harmful substances.
The finding suggests there may be a potential way to capitalize on this natural tendency ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] ASCO: JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib has promising efficacy in CMML patients
Phase I study of ruxolitinib resulted in no dose-limiting toxicities and improved symptoms in CMML patients
