Imatinib mesilate chemical structureMechanism of action of imatinibbcr-abl kinase, which causes CML in green, inhibited by small molecule Imatinib mesylate in red, rendered with RasMol
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Imatinib mesylate

Imatinib is a drug used to treat certain types of cancer. It is currently marketed by Novartis as Gleevec® (USA) or Glivec® (Europe/Australia) as its mesylate salt, imatinib mesilate (INN). It is occasionally still referred to as CGP57148B or STI571 (especially in older publications). It is used in treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and a number of other malignancies. more...

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It is the first member of a new class of agents that act by inhibiting particular tyrosine kinase enzymes, instead of simply inhibiting rapidly dividing cells.

Molecular biology

Imatinib is a 2-phenylaminopyrimidine derivative that functions as a specific inhibitor of a number of tyrosine kinase enzymes. It occupies the TK domain, leading to a decrease in activity.

There are a large number of TK enzymes in the body, including the insulin receptor. Imatinib is specific for the TK domain in abl (the Abelson proto-oncogene), c-kit and PDGF-R (platelet-derived growth factor receptor).

In chronic myelogenous leukemia, the Philadelphia chromosome leads to a fusion protein of abl with bcr (breakpoint cluster region), termed bcr-abl. As this is now a continuously active tyrosine kinase, Imatinib is used to decrease bcr-abl activity.

Imatinib works because p210bcr-abl requires a molecule of ATP to activate tyrosine residues on its substrates by phosphorylation. Imatinib instead docks in to this site and inhibits the protein competitively. Imatinib is quite selective for bcr-abl – it does also inhibit other targets mentioned above, but no known other tyrosine kinases. Imatinib does of course work on the abl protein of all cells but these have additional, normally redundant, pathways which allow the cell to continue to function normally even without this one. Tumour cells, however, have a dependence on bcr-abl (Deininger and Druker, 2003). Inhibition of the bcr-abl tyrosine kinase also stimulates its entry in to the nucleus, where it is unable to perform any of its normal anti-apoptopic functions (Vigneri et al 2001).

Uses

Imatinib is used in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and a number of other malignancies. Early clinical trials also show its potential for treatment of hypereosinophilic syndrome and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

In laboratory settings, imatinib is being used increasingly as an experimental agent to suppress platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) by inhibiting its receptor (PDGF-Rβ). One of its effects is delaying atherosclerosis in mice with diabetes (Lassila 2004).

Recent mouse animal studies at Emory University in Atlanta have suggested that imatinib and related drugs may be useful in treating smallpox, should an outbreak ever occur.

Tolerance

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved imatinib as first-line treatment for CML (Deininger and Druker 2003). Imatinib has passed through Phase III trials for CML, and has been shown to be more effective than the previous standard treatment of α-interferon and cytarabine. Although the long-term side effects of imatinib have not yet been ascertained, research suggests that it is generally very well tolerated (eg. liver toxicity was much less than predicted). Broadly, side effects such as edema, nausea, rash and musculoskeletal pain are common but mild.

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Novel approach: cancer drug might ease scleroderma
From Science News, 11/19/05 by N. Seppa

The chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, when given to mice, shows signs of impeding the skin disease scleroderma, researchers report. By slowing skin thickening, paclitaxel might offer a treatment for a disease that has defied cure.

Scleroderma results when excess collagen protein accumulates in the skin, rendering it fibrous and inflexible. This toughening can cause pain and disfigurement. In some patients, collagen collects in the blood vessels, heart, or lungs, any of which can be lethally damaged. Scleroderma seems to stem from an immune backlash against the body's own tissues, although what triggers the disease is unclear.

Cardiologist Pascal J. Goldschmidt-Clermont of Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., and his colleagues became interested in paclitaxel, marketed as Taxol, because previous experiments had indicated that the drug could stabilize microtubules--tiny conveyor belts in cells that normally help them function. The researchers had suspected that destabilized microtubules trigger a process that activates the protein TGF beta, a growth factor that stimulates cells to produce excess collagen.

To test whether calming microtubules with paclitaxel would fight collagen buildup, Goldschmidt-Clermont and his team transplanted skin grafts from people with scleroderma into mice. Some transplants were first soaked in paclitaxel, while others weren't. The treated grafts produced significantly less collagen than did the untreated grafts, the researchers report in the December PLoS Medicine.

Paclitaxel also inhibited the activity of TGF beta, the new data suggest.

"This is an intriguing study," says John Varga, a rheumatologist at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. In scleroderma research, "targeting TGF beta is where the action is." But Varga cautions that the study is preliminary. "To extrapolate from this mouse model to human scleroderma is hard," he says.

The study authors acknowledge that paclitaxel has one troubling effect. In some cancer patients, it actually causes collagen buildup in the skin. While that risk needs to be further investigated, Goldschmidt-Clermont says, the amount of paclitaxel used in these skin grafts was proportionately much less than that used in patients receiving it as chemotherapy.

Although some drugs can ease lung complications in scleroderma patients, "there isn't any one drug available that treats the disease overall," says Carolyn Weller, vice president of education and research at the Seleroderma Foundation in Danvers, Mass.

If further research indicates a benefit from paclitaxel in people, it would join two other cancer drugs--imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) and rituximab (Rittuxan)--being investigated for use against scleroderma.

Roughly 300,000 people in the United States have scleroderma.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

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