According to the National Cancer Institute, there were an estimated 48,610 new cases of leukemia last year, with 23,720 deaths from the condition. Now, new research suggests that a pill taken twice daily could turn the blood cancer into a treatable disease and allow patients to avoid chemotherapy.
The team, led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, focused their research on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) - the second most common form of the disease among adults.
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CLL is a blood and bone marrow disease that can occur when the bone marrow makes an excessive amount of lymphocytes - a type of white blood cell.
These lymphocytes become abnormal and are unable to effectively stave off infection. The increased number of these blood cells also leaves limited room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. This can cause anemia, infection and easy bleeding.
CLL is usually treated with chemotherapy drugs. Although the majority of patients respond to these drugs, the researchers say most patients relapse and need repeated cycles of the treatments.
With each cycle, the remission periods tend to decrease. The researchers say that as a result, patients often stop responding to treatment or are forced to stop because of severe side effects.
According to the investigators, these side effects are a result of the chemotherapy medication being unable to distinguish between healthy cells and cancer cells.
With this in mind, the research team set out to find an alternative treatment.
'Remarkable' results for idelalsib
For their study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers tested a combination of two targeted medications - drugs that can attack cancer cells without damaging healthy cells - on 220 patients with CLL who were not able to undergo chemotherapy.
The combination treatments were:
Rituximab and idelalsib, or
Rituximab and a placebo pill.
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