6 replies to this topic

[Sneezy12]

http://newsnetwork.m...linkId=15216521

FYI

Comments?

[mikefromillinois]

...that dasatinib inhibits proteins that promote cancer growth as expected but also suppresses proteins that protect against cancer...

 

That idea makes me a little nervous.  Overall I have mixed emotions about dasatinib (Sprycel).  I was on it for about four years, and Sprycel did an unbelievable job quickly bringing me to PCRU.  I had a host of the typical side effects but I felt that all things considered the drug was keeping the cancer away so I could live with the ill effects.  Additionally, I wasn't REALLY sure which effects were caused by the drug and which were a result of old age or some other variables.

 

However...I am currently in a TKI stop trial and have been drug free for about a month.  I now know exactly which side effects were Sprycel caused and I am really shocked at the positive difference in my overall well being now that the drug has been removed from the equation.

 

TKI's are a blessing to be sure.  But there is still much to learn about them.  It's good that many scientists are "on the case"!

[Trey]

Each TKI has strengths and weaknesses.  The article discusses inhibiting the SRC family of kinases, and the TKIs which do this are Sprycel, Iclusig, and Bosulif.  Gleevec and Tasigna do not inhibit SRC kinases.  Inhibiting the SRC kinases is believed to be useful in the fight against Gleevec resistant CML, and possibly helps especially with higher order leukemic stem cells which use alternate pathways beside the BCR-ABL route. 

[hannibellemo]

Mike,

 

I felt the same way when I had to stop taking Gleevec for 7 weeks to allow my liver enzymes to return to normal. I thought I felt pretty good on Gleevec, but it wasn't until I stopped taking it that I realized what feeling good really was!

 

Interestingly, I didn't experience that same relief when I stopped taking dasatinib for my pleural effusion for almost 9 weeks. Perhaps, because I felt so crappy anyway at that tiime.

[Frogiegirl]

Trey vague question but does that mean gleevec and tasigna may be the better way to go?

[CallMeLucky]

Not sure on the causation vs. correlation. Small study, conflicting results between lab and mice model, but not clear what happens in humans. Only looked at one subset of a rare cancer.
I'm not saying dasatinib is fine Im sure these drugs do some stuff they are not supposed to but in aggregate it has been very good at controlling cml with reasonable side effects.

[Trey]

Trey vague question but does that mean gleevec and tasigna may be the better way to go?

Not better, but different.  I do not believe any of the CML TKI drugs are just plain "better" or "stronger" or anything else without further clarifying what that means.