Prolymphocytic leukemias are rare diseases since they represent 2% of lymphoid leukemias. All like lymphoma, they start in lymphocytes without however forming solid tumors. This form of leukemia tends to be more aggressive and does not respond well to treatment. It particularly affects men and most often older men.
However, a new experimental treatment approach, tested by doctors at the Cancer Center of the University of Virginia (United States) has succeeded in sending patients into remission, long enough to allow them to wait for a stem cell transplant. they need to be cured (to receive a transplant, it is essential to be in remission).
This new approach combines immunotherapy (stimulation of the body’s immune system) with epigenetics (manipulation of gene activity). A combination that seems very promising not only for prolymphocytic leukemia but possibly for many other cancers.
“The study of this new treatment was carried out with 8 patients. It did not cure them but it put them in remission, and worked several times” explained Dr Thomas Loughran Jr, director of the Cancer Center. of the American university and pilot of this treatment.
The drugs used in this treatment are already commercially available, so doctors could, in theory, administer the treatment without further testing. However, Dr Loughran would like to initiate an additional study phase. But he still has to find enough patients because the rarity of this form of leukemia makes it difficult to recruit subjects.
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