The drug imatinib has been found to drive cancer into remission in people with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). But CML often returns when treatment is stopped.

Now, according to a new research by a team from UC-Irvine, imatinib could cure CML under certain circumstances if it is taken over a long enough period of time.

According to mathematician Natalia Komarova and biologist Dominik Wodarz (respectively):

“There is evidence that a complete cure is possible. Several patients have been reported to have no symptoms after two months without therapy, which is thought to suggest a complete cure. This evidence supports our theory. Basically, one has to be on therapy long enough for all of the stem cells to wake up and be killed by the drug.

The model requires the number of cancer cells that exist, how fast the cells divide and die, and how fast they go to sleep and wake up. Once you have those numbers, you can determine how many drugs to use in combination to make sure drug resistant mutants do not become problems.”

Imatinib⿿s popular brand is Gleevec® - a product of Novartis Pharma.

The above findings appear Oct. 3 in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) One.

[Photo Credit: email wire]

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