Post #4732

Scientists Discover How Leukemia Cells “Cheat Death” and Evade Treatment Scientists from Rutgers Health and collaborating institutions have uncovered why a widely used leukemia drug stops working for many patients and have identified a possible method to reverse that resistance. The research team found that a specific protein enables cancer cells to alter their mitochondria, the structures that generate cellular energy, in a way that shields them from venetoclax (brand name, Venclexta). This medication is a common therapy for acute myeloid leukemia but often becomes less effective after extended treatment. When the scientists blocked this protein using experimental compounds in mice carrying human acute myeloid leukemia, the treatment regained its strength and significantly increased survival. Published in Science Advances, the study reveals a previously unknown reason for drug resistance and points to a promising new strategy for combating one of the most lethal blood cancers in adults. “We found that mitochondria change their shape to prevent apoptosis, a type of cell suicide induced by these drugs,” said senior study author Christina Glytsou, an assistant professor at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Research Center of Excellence (NJPHORCE). Although venetoclax induces remission in many acute myeloid leukemia patients by triggering cancer cell death, resistance develops in nearly all cases. The five-year survival rate remains at 30% and the disease kills about 11,000 Americans each year. Source:SciTechDaily @EverythingScience