Discovery offers prospect of shorter treatment and cure for chronic myelogenous leukemia

(Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) Although targeted drugs like Gleevec have revolutionized the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, patients generally must take them for the rest of their lives and may cease benefiting from them over time. In new research that could suggest a road to cure, scientists have found that CML stem cells die in response to inhibition of a protein called Ezh2. Drugs that target the protein are currently being tested in clinical trials for other cancers.