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BeaconMediaNews.com
mARCH 12 - MARCH 18, 2018
City of Hope study reports on promising new drug to fight chronic myelogenous leukemia City of Hope scientists and doctors may have discovered a more effective treatment for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) using a drug that was developed at the institution to eradicate CML stem cells, according to a study published in Nature Medicine. CML is a type of cancer that starts in the bloodforming cells of the bone marrow and invades the blood. Although there are first-line drug treatments to induce long-term remission in CML patients, called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), leukemia stem cells, which initiate
and maintain the disease, frequently persist; these cells can result in a relapse of the disease. TKIs are also expensive and a patient with CML needs to take the drug for life. City of Hope researchers aimed to find a treatment for CML that was effective enough for people to stop using TKIs. In their quest to find a cure for the disease, the team tested a drug called miristen. Developed at City of Hope, miristen targets one type of a microRNA that is expressed in leukemia stem cells, known as miR-126, and researchers believed to be important for self-renewal
and persistence of stubborn leukemia stem cells. Led by Bin Zhang, M.D., and Ph.D., an associate research professor in the Department of Hematologic Malignancies Translational Science, and Guido Marcucci, M.D., chair and professor of the City of Hope Department of Hematologic Malignancies Translational Science, and director, Gehr Family Center for Leukemia Research, the team tested various combinations of miristen and other drugs in mouse models with CML. These included miristen with TKIs and without them. The best results were
seen in those treated with miristen and a TKI. Transplantation of the bone marrow cells collected from those treated with miristen and TKI resulted in no sign of leukemia in the healthy recipient mice, meaning all leukemia stem cells were eliminated. The researchers believe that miristen simply makes the TKIs more effective in killing the leukemia stem cells. “This is could be a major breakthrough for people who are in remission for CML because there is always a concern that the disease will come back if TKI treatment is stopped,” Zhang said. “Miristen could be the
leukemia stem cells and the endothelial cells; testing of their idea showed that it does. “What we have discovered is how the microenvironment surrounding the leukemia stem cells supports them and how you need to target miR-126 in the leukemia stem cells and the microenvironment to completely eradicate the disease,” Marcucci said. “Our current study showed these findings may also apply to other types of leukemia.” City of Hope is currently working on bringing miristen from the laboratory to the clinic for treatment in patients.
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drug that sends the disease into permanent remission.” Zhang and Marcucci noted that their research also unearthed another important finding for CML that was key to the treatment’s success. The team discovered that endothelial cells in the blood vessels of a person’s bone marrow — where CML begins — contain high levels of miR-126. These endothelial cells transfer miR-126 to leukemia stem cells, essentially feeding the cancer what it needs to survive and relapse. The researchers hypothesized that to eliminate CML, miristen had to lower miR-126 in both the
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– filed a complaint with the California Medical Board after seeking treatments from Diaz to enhance her buttocks. I.T. stated that the product Diaz injected into her buttocks migrated to her “back, hips and legs.” During a series of treatments that cost thousands of dollars, Diaz explained to I.T. that she was injecting a “natural product,” at points claiming the injections were “lamb’s fat.” However, after a series of treatments, I.T. began to suffer pain and experience serious medical complications, which led her to seek the assistance of a doctor in Colombia who specializes in reversing cosmetic procedures. During Monday’s sentencing hearing, I.T. explained that she has experienced a great deal of pain, suffered from infections and complications, and was hospitalized for more than three weeks due to the injections administered by Diaz. I.T. underwent a
major surgery to remove the substance injected into her buttocks and received skin grafts to repair the damage. The victim will need further reconstructive medical procedures. I.T. told the court that Diaz had lied to her and that she believed Diaz when Diaz said that the product was safe and would never move. Diaz never told I.T. or her other customers that the product she was injecting into their buttocks had been illegally smuggled into the United States from Mexico, that the product was a medical device that was not approved for use in the United States for the purpose of enhancing buttocks or body contouring, and that she was not licensed in the United States to perform any such medical procedure. Diaz intentionally defrauded and misled her customers regarding the safety of the substance and the nature of her qualifications to use the illegally
smuggled medical device for body contouring purposes. Diaz injected the liquid substance into at least 10 customers – earning at least $40,000 from her illegal conduct. Despite the risk of death or serious bodily injury to her customers, and notwithstanding complaints from customers that they had suffered injuries from the procedure, Diaz recklessly continued to inject her customers with the smuggled and illegal substance. This case was investigated by the United States Food and Drug Administration – Office of Criminal Investigations and the California Medical Board. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joseph O. Johns, Chief of the Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Amanda M. Bettinelli of the Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section.