Advances in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia Journal Article
| Author: | Lamanna, N. |
| Article Title: | Advances in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia |
| Abstract: | A dramatic change has taken place in therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia over the past 15 years. In 1990, available therapy produced complete responses in less than 5% of treated patients. This is in marked contrast to modern regimens, which can reliably produce complete responses in over 50% of patients. This remarkable improvement is completely attributable to the introduction of new active agents. These new agents include three purine analogues (pentostatin, fludarabine, and cladribine) and two monoclonal antibodies (rituximab and alemtuzumab). Novel combinations of these agents have emerged as effective new therapies for previously untreated and pretreated patients. Clinical studies indicate that such combinations can induce higher response rates - including complete responses - than single-agent therapy. Those patients who achieve a complete response have superior survival, compared with those who only achieve a partial response. Though not yet demonstrated in a prospective randomized trial, treatment approaches aimed at achieving high-quality responses may one day lead to an improvement in survival for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and, ultimately, offer the hope of curative therapy in these patients. Copyright © 2005 by Current Science Inc. |
| Keywords: | cancer survival; treatment outcome; unclassified drug; fludarabine; prednisone; clinical trial; neutropenia; review; cytotoxic agent; cancer combination chemotherapy; monotherapy; antineoplastic agents; combined modality therapy; rituximab; prospective studies; treatment indication; quality control; protein bcl 2; unindexed drug; infection; bone marrow suppression; thrombocytopenia; antineoplastic combined chemotherapy protocols; cd40 ligand; cyclophosphamide; herpes zoster; pneumocystis pneumonia; caspase 3; cytotoxicity; drug resistance, neoplasm; monoclonal antibody; fever; pneumonia; hyperkalemia; cd20 antigen; antibodies, monoclonal; antiinfective agent; disease severity; gamma interferon; drug mechanism; drug response; gene therapy; hemolytic anemia; reliability; antivirus agent; flavopiridol; adenovirus vector; immune deficiency; corticosteroid; recombinant granulocyte colony stimulating factor; autoimmune disease; drug dose regimen; cyclin dependent kinase; chronic lymphatic leukemia; antibiotic prophylaxis; phosphotransferase; oblimersen; disease exacerbation; interleukin 12; cd19 antigen; alemtuzumab; chlorambucil; pentostatin; cd52 antigen; cladribine; cd23 antigen; leukemia, lymphocytic, chronic; cd20 antibody; health care availability; lumiliximab |
| Journal Title: | Current Oncology Reports |
| Volume: | 7 |
| Issue: | 5 |
| ISSN: | 1523-3790 |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| Date Published: | 2005-09-01 |
| Start Page: | 333 |
| End Page: | 338 |
| Language: | English |
| PUBMED: | 16091193 |
| PROVIDER: | scopus |
| DOI/URL: | |
| Notes: | --- - "Cited By (since 1996): 3" - "Export Date: 24 October 2012" - "CODEN: CORUA" - "Source: Scopus" |
