(Press-News.org) Standard treatment for chronic leukemia is too harsh for many older patients.
Early clinical trials testing indicates that these patients respond well to the experimental drug ibrutinib.
This agent merits further testing as a first-line therapy for older chronic-leukemia patients.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The experimental drug ibrutinib (PCI-32765) shows great promise for the treatment of elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to interim findings from a clinical trial.
The phase I/II trial, co-led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) and MD Anderson Cancer Center, indicates that the oral agent has few side effects and a high one-year survival rate in older patients.
Ibrutinib is the first drug designed to target Bruton's tyrosine kinase, a protein that is essential for CLL-cell survival and proliferation. CLL is the most common form of leukemia, with about 16,000 new cases occurring annually in the United States. About 4,600 Americans die each year of the disease, which is incurable.
Study co-leader Dr. John C. Byrd, director of the division of hematology and a CLL specialist at OSUCCC – James, will present the findings at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.
"This interim report indicates that older patients respond well to this oral, targeted therapy, which lacks many of the side effects of chemotherapy and produces a quite dramatic one-year progression-free survival," says Byrd.
"The high overall response rate and lack of side effects suggests that ibrutinib deserves further study as a first-line treatment in elderly CLL patients," he says.
Standard treatment for CLL involves use of the chemotherapeutic drug fludarabine, Byrd says. These regimens can effectively control the disease until drug resistance arises, but fludarabine has serious side effects, and sometimes causes death, in older patients. For these reasons, new treatment approaches are needed for older CLL patients.
The study involves 31 patients aged 65 or older with active CLL who require stem-cell transplantation for treatment. Of these patients, 26 were randomized to receive a drug dose of 420 milligrams (mg) and five received a drug dose of 840 mg.
Of patients receiving 420 mg, 8 percent had no sign of disease and 65 percent showed improvement in their disease, and an estimated 93 percent would show no change in their condition.
INFORMATION:
Note: Along with Byrd, this study was co-led by Dr. Susan O'Brien of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
END
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– By combining the light of three powerful infrared telescopes, an international research team has observed the active accretion phase of a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy tens of millions of light years away, a method that has yielded an unprecedented amount of data for such observations. The resolution at which they were able to observe this highly luminescent active galactic nucleus (AGN) has given them direct confirmation of how mass accretes onto black holes in centers of galaxies.
"This three-telescope interferometry is ...
The system doctors use to classify patients' malignant brain tumors is outdated.
Researchers have revised the system to accommodate treatment advances and molecular markers.
The new system will be validated in future clinical trials for malignant gliomas.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Radiation oncology researchers have revised the system used by doctors since the 1990s to determine the prognosis of people with glioblastoma, which is the most devastating of malignant brain tumors.
The outdated system was devised for glioblastoma and related brain tumors that were treated by ...
Using gene transfer techniques pioneered by University of Florida faculty, Taiwanese doctors have restored some movement in four children bedridden with a rare, life-threatening neurological disease.
The first-in-humans achievement may also be helpful for more common diseases such as Parkinson's that involve nerve cell damage caused by lack of a crucial molecule in brain tissue. The results are reported today (May 16) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The children in the study, who ranged in age from 4 to 6, inherited a rare disease known as aromatic L-amino ...
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The early April earthquake of magnitude 8.6 that shook Sumatra was a grim reminder of the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in 2004 and 2005.
Now a new study, funded by the National Science Foundation, shows that the residents of that region are at risk from yet another potentially deadly natural phenomenon – major volcanic eruptions.
Researchers from Oregon State University working with colleagues in Indonesia have documented six major volcanic eruptions in Sumatra over the past 35,000 years – most equaling ...
Philadelphia, Pa. (May 16, 2012) – For older adults with "C2" fractures of the upper (cervical) spine, surgery and nonsurgical treatment provide similar short- and long-term outcomes, reports a study in the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Although the patients were at significant risk of complications and death in the year or two after C2 fracture, these risks are similar with surgical and nonsurgical treatment. "[T]hus, age ...
Washington, D.C., May 16, 2012 – Last week the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued its obesity-prevention report at the Weight of the Nation™ conference hosted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This report included a call to action for increased access to healthy foods (like fruits and vegetables) at retail outlets nationwide . Findings from a new Michigan State University (MSU) study released today, underscored the critical role that canned fruits and vegetables play in helping Americans increase these intakes, regardless of geography or income level. It's time ...
RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products including ethernet cables and coaxial cable connectors, wants to thank customers based in Nottingham who have helped raise more than GBP500 for the Help for Heroes charity. With several members of the RS branch team in Nottingham having close links to the forces, Help for Heroes was chosen as their charity of choice.
Customers have fully supported the fundraising with donations towards the free-vend drinks and ...
Response efforts to outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Africa can benefit from a standardized sampling strategy that focuses on the carcasses of gorillas, chimpanzees and other species known to succumb to the virus, according to a consortium of wildlife health experts.
In a recently published study of 14 previous human Ebola outbreaks and the responses of wildlife teams collecting animal samples, the authors of the new study conclude that most efforts to collect samples from live animals (i.e. rodents, bats, primates, birds) failed to isolate Ebola virus or antibodies. ...
Leading online gaming portal operator Right Casino Media have teamed up with fundraiser Hayley Fuller to help raise awareness and funds for the Help for Heroes charity, which supports soldiers wounded in current conflicts. Right Casino Media, who operate a network of industry leading websites including http://www.liveroulette.co.uk, have given GBP500 in much-needed sponsorship to Hayley, as she takes part in a 7-day fundraising bike trek through France this month.
Established in 2007, the Help for Heroes charity raises money to help provide direct, practical support ...
A new study suggests that dumping old or unneeded medications in the trash can may be the best way to reduce the environmental impact of the 200 million pounds of pharmaceuticals that go unused in the U.S. each year. The report, which weighs the emissions from flushing, incinerating or trashing drugs, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Stephen J. Skerlos and colleagues explain that to avoid the risks of abuse and accidental poisoning, as well as other problems that unused, unwanted or expired pharmaceuticals pose, they shouldn't be kept in homes. ...
