Chronic myelogenous leukemia (pronounced my-ah-lah-jeh-nes) is a cancer of the bone marrow. It's also known as chronic myeloid leukemia and chronic granulocytic leukemia.
When you have CML, your body's marrow — the "stuff" inside your bones — sort of goes haywire and produces too many white blood cells, causing a variety of complications. Unlike other cancers, CML is not a solid tumor, and thus it cannot be surgically removed.
While medications, including chemotherapy, can help stabilize you for several years, the only known potential cure is a bone marrow transplant, a grueling procedure that often invokes the old cliche' that the cure is worse than the disease.
Only about 5,000 Americans are diagnosed with CML each year. About 2,300 die from it annually.
But new treatments and potential cures are on the horizon. Most notable is imatinib mesylate, trade name Gleevec (pronounced glee-veck). It is known as Glivec outside of the United States, and was previously known as STI571. It's manufactured by Novartis.
Gleevec, which was approved for the U.S. prescription drug market in May 2001, after just three years in clinical trials, is sometimes referred to in the media as a "magic bullet" because it is thought to target only the enzymes in your body that allow cancerous cells to grow, not your normal healthy cells.
However, even the leading CML experts say it's too early to tell yet whether Gleevec will live up to the reputation it's rapidly acquiring. And unfortunately, results on Gleevec are not encouraging for people with advanced stages of CML, as relapse is a major threat. Other treatments are also being studied, including combining Gleevec with the traditional interferon treatment and arsenic trioxide, plus the latest — vaccines.
Check out the Article Archives and the NewsBytes Archives for information about other CML and leukemia treatment advances and research.
