A new treatment has offered hope that most children can survive the most common form of leukaemia, according to the findings of a British study.
Researchers say the benefits of Mitoxantrone were proved conclusively in the study, which involved just over 200 children who had suffered a relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The anthracenedione antineoplastic agent works by disrupting DNA repair in cancer cells.
The study, reported in The Lancet, found that 69 per cent of children who took the drug survived the disease. This compared with 45 per cent of those who took Idarubicin, previously the standard treatment.
Researchers said the newer drug also caused fewer side effects than Idarubicin.
Researcher Professor Vaskar Saha, of the Paterson Institute, Manchester, UK, said: "These striking results show just what a powerful drug Mitoxantrone is in treating children whose leukaemia has returned, offering hope to many families across the country.
"As a result of this trial, Mitoxantrone is now the standard treatment for relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and is having a significant impact on the number of children who beat the disease worldwide.
"This is the first time that a trial in ALL has been stopped so early after one drug had such clear benefits for patients."
Kate Law, director of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, said: "These exciting results highlight the impact that research is continuing to have to help more children beat the disease. Today, thanks to research like this, more than three quarters of children beat cancer, compared to a quarter in the 1960s."
Mitoxantrone improves outcome of children with first relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – results of the randomised ALL R3 trial. Parker C., et al. Lancet December 4 2010 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62002-8
Leave a Reply