© 2004 by Oxford University Press
© 2004 Oxford University Press
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In Brief
New Drug May Overcome Imatinib Resistance
A second-generation small-molecule inhibitor may effectively overcome resistance to the cancer drug imatinib (Gleevec), a growing problem among patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), according to a new study that tested the drug in mice and in human leukemia cells.
Imatinib attacks and blocks an enzyme called BCR-ABL that drives the overproliferation of white blood cells that characterizes CML. However, about 15% to 20% of CML patients become resistant to imatinib and suffer a relapse, sometimes after years of therapy. This resistance arises because the patients have secondary mutations in the BCR-ABL gene that prevent imatinib from binding to these cells.
BMS-354825 is similar to imatinib, but binds to most cells with secondary mutations in the BCR-ABL gene. In a study published in the July 16 issue of Science, Charles L. Sawyers, M.D., of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of California at Los Angeles, and colleagues found that BMS-354825 was effective against nearly all imatinib-resistant BCR-ABL mutants and had little toxicity when tested in a mouse model of CML and in bone marrow cells cultured from CML patients.
Rate of PSA Rise Associated With Risk of Death from Prostate Cancer
A new study has found that men who experience a rapid increase in their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the year before their prostate cancer diagnosis are at increased risk of dying from the disease even after they undergo prostatectomy.
Anthony V. D'Amico, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues looked at the rate of rise in PSA level (called PSA velocity) in addition to PSA level at diagnosis, Gleason score (a measure of how likely a tumor is to spread), and tumor stage in 1,095 participants in a prostate cancer screening study who were diagnosed with localized prostate cancer and subsequently underwent prostatectomy. The results of the study appeared in the July 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Men who had a PSA velocity of more than 2.0 ng/mL in the year prior to their prostate cancer diagnosis had a higher risk of dying from prostate cancer compared with men whose PSA velocity was 2.0 ng/mL or less per year. Their relative risk of death was almost 10 times as high as that of men whose PSA velocity was less than 2.0 ng/mL in the year before diagnosis.
Committee Approves FY2005 Budget for NIH
The House Appropriations Committee has approved a draft FY2005 spending bill that includes a $28.5 billion budget for the National Institutes of Health—a 2.6% increase over last year's budget. The bill allocates $4.87 billion to the National Cancer Institute, a 2.8% increase over 2004.
The increase for NIH matches the President's request for 2005 funding. The committee approved $15 million more than the President's request for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—still a $138 million decrease from 2004 levels.
The House is scheduled to vote on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill after Labor Day. More information on the bill is available at http://appropriations.house.gov.
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