VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct 12, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A new therapy is
doubling survival rates for high-risk childhood Philadelphia chromosome-positive
acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Canadian researchers said.
The Phase 2 trial, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, involved
nearly 20 North American centers with a total of 92 patients ages 1-21.
"Adding continuous exposure to imatinib for two-and-a-half years made a big
difference and increased the survival rates to 87 percent. The drug was well
tolerated and it didn't have any significant side effects," study leader Dr.
Kirk Schultz of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver said in a
statement.
"Using imatinib plus chemotherapy had a synergistic type of interaction. I never
expected these results. Although it's very promising, we need to do more follow
up to get the five-year survival data and determine the long-term survival."
Imatinib, known commercially as Gleevec and used for some adult leukemias and
gastrointestinal cancers, prevented cancer cells from proliferating by binding
to a cancer cell protein, the researchers said.
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