Leukemia Treatments

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University report that combining the leukemia drug venetoclax with the breast‑cancer drug palbociclib showed significantly stronger and more durable anti‑leukemia effects than venetoclax alone in lab tests on samples from more than 300 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and in mouse models carrying human leukemia cells. The team found that AML cells adapt to venetoclax monotherapy by ramping up protein production, but adding palbociclib blocks this adaptation, extending mouse survival to 11–12 months in most cases and suggesting a way to overcome resistance that could move into clinical trials for a disease that affects over 20,000 Americans annually and still has only a 25%–40% five‑year survival rate.