Imatinib – The New Perspective in the Anticancer Therapy

Overview

Among novel promising approaches to anticancer therapy belongs the targeting inhibition of signal transduction.This review outlines present-day experienceswith imatinib (Glivec), a potent inhibitor of the tyrosine kinases bcr-abl,c-kit and platelet-derived growth factor receptor kinase. Due to inhibition of bcr-abl tyroxine kinase, imatinib hasrapidly become the standard therapy for chronic myelocytic leukemia; inhibition of c-kit receptor explains itseffectivity in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Another known target of imatinib istyrosine kinase of PDGFR, which is activated in numerous malignancies, particularly in dermatofibrosarcomaprotuberans. Discovery of the novel fusion gene in hypereosinophilic syndrome (FIPILI-PFGFRA, whose productis an imatinib sensitive protein kinase) permitted to treat successfully this event. Possible combination of imatinibwith conventional chemotherapeutic drugs and other key signal transduction inhibitors are mentioned.

Key words:
imatinib, chronic myeloid leukemia, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, hypereosinophilic syndrome.