For first time in 40 years, cure for acute leukemia within reach

Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most aggressive cancers. While other cancers have benefitted from new treatments, there has been no encouraging news for most leukemia patients for the past 40 years. Until now. As published today in the scientific journal Cell, Professor Yinon Ben-Neriah and his research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Faculty of Medicine have developed a new biological drug with a cure rate of 50% for lab mice with acute leukemia. Leukemia produces a variety (and a high quantity) of proteins that together provide leukemic cells with rapid growth and death protection from chemotherapy. To date, most of the biological cancer drugs used to treat leukemia target only individual leukemic cell proteins. However, during "targeted therapy" treatments, leukemic cells quickly activate their other proteins to block the drug. The result is drug-resistant leukemic cells which quickly regrow and renew the disease.