Gleevec News and Research

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Gleevec is a drug used to treat different types of leukemia and other cancers of the blood, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, skin tumors called dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, and a rare condition called systemic mastocytosis. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Gleevec blocks the protein made by the bcr/abl oncogene. It is a type of tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Also called imatinib mesylate and STI571.

Study shows ABL kinases have enhanced expression and activity in CML

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is a cancer of the white blood cells that is most commonly found in adults and in the elderly. Its incidence has been estimated to be 1 to 2 in 100,000 people. CML was the first cancer to be associated with a genetic abnormality, known as the Philadelphia Chromosome, which 95% of all CML patients carry in their cells.

28 Aug 2013

Cancer-linked mitosis: an interview with Professor Scott Kern, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Mitosis is the process by which a cell gives rise to two daughter cells. It’s the basis behind the growth of the human body, the renewal of the human body as it ages, and unfortunately, the growth of cancers.

7 Aug 2013

Scientists prevent cell sleep to reduce chance of tumor recurrence

An international research team led by University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) scientists discovered that by preventing cancer cells from entering a state of cellular sleep, cancer drugs are more effective, and there is a lower chance of cancer recurrence.

2 Aug 2013

UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center named one of nation's top 12 cancer centers

UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center is ranked among the top 12 cancer centers in the nation, according to a U.S. News & World Report survey of board-certified physicians from across the country. The survey reviewed patient outcomes, the cancer center's reputation among physicians, mortality rates and other care-related factors.

17 Jul 2013

New therapeutic targets for infantile myofibromatosis

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis -a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue-may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

26 May 2013

Findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could block metastasis spread

By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer.

22 May 2013

PGDx to identify novel kinase targets in collaboration with Blueprint Medicines

Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., today announced that it will use its proprietary methodologies and expertise in genomic analysis of defined cancer subtypes to identify novel kinase targets in collaboration with Blueprint Medicines.

21 May 2013

Kinase inhibitors: an interview with Jan Hoflack, CSO of Oncodesign

Kinase inhibitors are molecules that block the activity of kinases. Kinases are a specific class of enzymes. They are extremely important in signal transduction processes in the human body meaning that they actually regulate most of the physiological processes that take place in the body.

7 May 2013

Viewpoints: S.C. House race spotlights Dems' discomfort with health law; Cannon, Cohn offer contrasting views of Medicaid study

The media tittering over Mrs. Colbert Busch's decision to publicly slap the former Republican governor over his extramarital affair obscured the more notable political comment of the night.

3 May 2013

Doctors assail drugmakers for $100K cancer medicines

More than 100 cancer specialists call for pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of these drugs that patients need to live.

29 Apr 2013

MD Anderson professor to receive award for clinical research excellence at AACR meeting

Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., chair and professor in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Department of Leukemia, will be honored for clinical research excellence at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, April 6-10.

9 Apr 2013

A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

Professor Alex Matter, Chief Executive Officer of A*STAR's Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), has been awarded the 8th Annual Szent-Gy-rgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) for his contributions to the development of the first drug specifically targeting a molecular lesion in cancer.

7 Apr 2013

Finding solutions to protect U.S. troops against invisible killers

A Saint Louis University researcher has received a contract worth up to $980,000 to see if two cancer medications have the potential of protecting U.S. troops from biological agents that could be unleashed during an attack.

4 Apr 2013

Bayer receives FDA approval for Stivarga to treat advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved use of Stivarga (regorafenib) to treat patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that cannot be surgically removed and no longer respond to other FDA-approved treatments for this disease.

26 Feb 2013

Memorial Sloan-Kettering scientist wins Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Charles L. Sawyers, Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP), was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences today. The award - established by Art Levinson, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Yuri Milner - recognizes "excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life."

21 Feb 2013

Imatinib can relieve and slow down progression of multiple sclerosis

A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE.

21 Feb 2013

Novartis receives FDA approval for Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use of Gleevec (imatinib) to treat children newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

27 Jan 2013

Sabutoclax appears to selectively target leukemia stem cells that are responsible for relapses

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that hard-to-reach, drug-resistant leukemia stem cells (LSCs) that overexpress multiple pro-survival protein forms are sensitive - and thus vulnerable - to a novel cancer stem cell-targeting drug currently under development.

18 Jan 2013

TKI-resistant human leukemia stem cells are the source of genomic instability

An international team of scientists, led by researchers from Temple University School of Medicine, has found that a source of mounting genomic chaos, or instability, common to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) may lie in a pool of leukemia stem cells that are immune to treatment with potent targeted anticancer drugs.

12 Dec 2012

Targeting RAD52 protein can block the process by which leukemia stem cells repair themselves

Despite treatment with imatinib, a successful drug that targets chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a deadly type of cancer, some patients may continue to be at risk for relapse because a tiny pool of stem cells is resistant to treatment and may even accumulate additional genetic aberrations, eventually leading to disease progression and relapse. These leukemia stem cells are full of genetic errors, loaded with potentially lethal breaks in DNA, and are in a state of constant self-repair.

10 Dec 2012