According to findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ibrutinib in combination with ABT-199 may be effective for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
In this study, researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Virginia, tested ibrutinib in combination with ABT-199 in blood samples from 16 patients with either MCL or CLL. They found that 23% of cells treated with the combination underwent apoptosis while only 3.8% and 3% of cells treated with ibrutinib and ABT-199, respectively, underwent apoptosis. Researchers also found that the combination of ibrutinib and ABT-199 synergistically killed cancer cells in patients with CLL.
Ibrutinib (Imbruvica), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with MCL and CLL. ABT-199 is an investigational, selective B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) inhibitor being studied for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphomas, including MCL and CLL.
Ibrutinib in combination with ABT-199 may be effective for MCL and CLL.
Using the molecularly targeted drug ibrutinib (Imbruvica) together with the investigational anticancer agent ABT-199 may improve outcomes for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to preclinical data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference, Hematologic Malignancies: Translating Discoveries to Novel Therapies, held Sept. 20-23.
“Ibrutinib was recently approved by the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] for the treatment of both mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia,” said Michael J. Weber, PhD, professor of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville.
From Medical Express
