Sugen Leukemia Drug Unveiled In Nature

A new drug for the treatment of a common childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has been unveiled by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. The compound is the result of a joint research effort between the Hebrew researchers and Canadian scientists from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The joint team developed the new concept after looking at the response of leukemia cells to JAK-2 protein tyrosine kinase, a signalling protein that appears to be selectively activated in the lymphoblasts of patients suffering an ALL relapse. The team found that an inhibitor of the protein, AG-490, causes the affected lymphoblasts to die. In animal studies, inhibition of JAK-2 with AG-490 was found to selectively block leukemic cell growth by pushing the cell into apoptosis (programmed cell death).

Sugen Interest Details of the new agent were published recently in Nature. AG-490 has been patented by Yissum, Hebrew University's R&D licensing company, and the research is being supported by the National Cancer Institute and Medical Research Council of Canada, and by Sugen of the USA, which has licensed certain rights to the drug.