Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) whose cells carry TP53 mutations may survive longer if they are treated with decitabine, according to a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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The study, led by senior author Timothy J Ley, MD, the Lewis T and Rosalind B Apple Professor of Medicine, included 116 patients who were treated with decitabine, a less-intensive drug that was approved by the FDA in 2006 as a treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Among the patients in the study, 46% achieved a remission. All 21 of the patients whose leukemia cells carried TP53 mutations went into remission.
Among patients with the TP53 mutations who went into remission, median survival was 12.7 months, a significant increase from the average survival length of 4 to 6 months for patients with AML receiving aggressive chemotherapy. The results of the study indicate that decitabine can significantly improve survival for these patients.
This study opens the door for more research to determine the benefits of AML treatment with decitabine. The drug has been used as a treatment option typically for patients aged 65 years or older. With the results of this study, decitabine can be used to treat those patients younger than the standard candidates for treatment who have the TP53 mutation.
"We're now planning a larger trial to evaluate decitabine in AML patients of all ages who carry TP53 mutations," said author John Welch, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University. "It's exciting to think we may have a therapy that has the potential to improve response rates in this group of high-risk patients."
