The drug Revumenib, which is in the experimental phase, managed to eliminate the cancer of one third of the patients who have advanced acute leukemias in the United States. Published in the journal Nature last Wednesday, the 15th, the clinical study administered the pill to 68 patients diagnosed with the disease with the KMT2A or NPM1 mutations, where 18 of the participants were cured in this first phase of testing.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common and most aggressive type of cancer. In it, myeloid stem cells, cells responsible for the production of blood cells, undergo genetic alterations that cause the uncontrolled production of diseased cells that reproduce quickly.
“Acute leukemias with KMT2A rearrangements are difficult to treat and NPM1 mutations are the most common genetic alteration in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These subsets do not have approved specifically targeted therapies,” said study leader Ghayas Issa.
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It is worth mentioning that the results are preliminary and that they do not offer a definitive cure for leukemia, but the researchers are optimistic about the development of the treatment. It is also important to mention that the drug does not work for all cases, since two genetic subtypes, where a protein allows the disease to progress, were used as a basis.
Scott Armstrong, one of the authors of the study, explains that the two subtypes of acute leukemia present in the research are about 40% of cases of AML in children and adults. In tests, the drug-containing protein produced significant responses for both types of the disease.
“The responses in this study show that inhibitors of this protein could be a promising treatment option that is well tolerated by patients and could be the newest addition to successful targeted therapies for acute leukemia,” comments Ghayas.
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