Irnatinib helps elderly patients with leukaemia

摘要

In elderly people, Ph+ALL has a poor prognosis-few survive longer than a few months. Imatinib, which inhibits the BCR/ABL protein kinase encoded by the Philadelphia chromosome, has good activity in young adults with Ph+ALL, but "treatments that are used in these patients cannot simply be transposed to the elderly who often cannot tolerate intensive chemotherapy", notes Delannoy.