抗肿瘤药阿扎胞苷

阿扎胞苷是一种新型表观遗传学抗肿瘤药,是目前唯一被临床证明可延长高风险骨髓增生异常综合征患者总生存期的抗肿瘤药。     

Acute myeloid leukaemia in patients we judge as being older and/or unfit

The definition of older age in AML is arbitrary. In the context of the clinical studies, it starts with age ≥60 or ≥65 years and in recent years ≥70 or 75, depending on the selection of the studied population. In clinical practice, with older age, we often mean that the patient is unfit for intensive chemotherapy. Higher age overlaps with categories such as worse performance status, unfitness, comorbidities, poor-risk cytogenetics, adverse mutation patterns, age-related clonal haematopoiesis and specific disease ontogeny. Intensive induction therapy can result in prolonged overall survival, at least in a subset of elderly patients aged up to 75 years despite the reluctance of some physicians and patients to use treatment regimens perceived as toxic. Venetoclax and azacitidine combination is the new standard of comparison for persons unfit for intensive therapy. New oral hypomethylating agent CC-486 as maintenance therapy led to a prolonged overall survival in a randomized trial of patients ≥55 years of age who were in first complete remission, but not eligible for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Any therapy is better than no therapy, but a substantial proportion of older patients still receive only palliative care. Making a decision for AML diagnosed in older age should be individualized and shared through the dialog with the patient and relatives or cohabitants, considering medical issues and social factors including personal goals. Although we are witnesses of the advances in basic research and therapy, we are still a very long way from curing older patients with AML.     

DNA去甲基化药物的研究进展

DNA甲基化是调节基因表达而不改变DNA碱基序列的表观遗传修饰,通过沉默肿瘤抑制基因在癌症发展中发挥关键作用。DNA去甲基化药物在临床上已经显示出疗效,然而,高效性和特异性的DNA去甲基化药物尚未出现。目前,在市场上已有2种药物阿扎胞苷和地西他滨用于治疗骨髓增生异常综合征。寻找直接结合靶点新的抑制剂是未来的方向。从抗肿瘤活性和临床研究方面介绍了DNA去甲基化药物的研究进展。     

Perspectives on current survival and new developments in AML

The past three years have witnessed remarkable progress in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The approval and development of targeted therapies and novel agents has improved outcomes for patients with traditionally poor survival rates. This review has summarized the survival impact of chemotherapy-based regimens in AML and described recent advances that will be of significance in the near future.