BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Therapeutics: BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase; vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor 1 (FLT1; VEGFR-1)

February 12, 2015 8:00 AM UTC

In vitro and patient studies suggest axitinib could be repurposed to treat imatinib-resistant ALL and CML that express the BCR-ABL T315I mutation. In cells from ALL or CML patients expressing the mutation, a drug sensitivity and resistance screen of 252 marketed and experimental cancer therapeutics identified the VEGFR-1 inhibitor axitinib as a potent inhibitor of cell survival. In a patient with BCR-ABL T315-expressing CML, two weeks of treatment with axitinib decreased BCR-ABL T315 transcripts in the bone marrow compared with pretreatment baselines. Next steps include studying the effects of axitinib in combination with other BCR-ABL inhibitors to treat ALL and CML. (See Cover Story)...