Retargeting imatinib

Abstract

Imatinib is an anticancer therapy that acts as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the BCR–ABL oncoprotein, as well as c-Kit and the platelet-derived growth factor receptor. This targeted therapy is the standard of care for adults newly diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase and has demonstrated efficacy in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors who have a mutation in the kinase domain of c-Kit. These successes, and our growing knowledge of the molecular biology of a range of cancers, have led to the recent report of two successful clinical trials assessing the use of imatinib in novel patient groups. These trials were conducted in two very different patient populations, the first was in children with newly diagnosed CML in the chronic phase and the second in patients with acral or muscosal metastatic melanoma.