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Treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia by STI 571: preliminary results Volume 7, issue 5, Septembre - Octobre 2001

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Laboratoire de greffe de moelle, université Victor-Segalen, UMR-CNRS 5540, 146, rue Léo-Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder clinically characterised by a triphasic course: after a chronic phase over a median time of 4 years, patients develop an accelerated phase, then a blastic phase, resulting in the patient's death within 3 to 6 months. Progress has been made over recent years, in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for leukemic growth. This has also formed the basis of therapeutic improvements with the appearance of treatments such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which specifically target the oncoprotein inside the leukemic cells. Molecules such as STI 571 or imatimib mesylate (Glivec®) are currently being assessed and could be the medicines of the future. Therefore, CML is a model for the development of these new therapeutic drugs. Indeed, impressive results from the first clinical trial have just been published showing that STI 571 is able to induce hematological and cytogenetical response. By this way CML is also a model for the development of the new therapeutic drugs which could be used for other tumors.