Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas, a three-term Republican who had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia, died on Monday evening at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was 74.

Thomas, a five-year veteran of the Wyoming Legislature, was hospitalized for pneumonia just before the 2006 election and had to cancel his final campaign stops. Still, he monitored the election from his hospital bed and won with 70 percent of the vote. Two days after the election, Thomas announced he had just been diagnosed with cancer.

After his first round of chemotherapy, Thomas returned to the Senate in December. He felt better than ever and returned to the hospital in May for his second round of treatment.

Sprycel is an oral agent that has recently been approved by the FDA. It works by stopping the production of proteins involved in cancer growth.

The American Society of Hematology presented results that stated that treatment with Sprycel (dasatinib) provides better outcomes compared to giving higher doses of Gleevec (imatinib), in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), who have stopped responding to standard doses of Gleevec.

In the clinical trial the patients were either treated with Sprycel or increased doses of Gleevec to see who had the better response.

Study results indicated:

• Patients who had achieved a major anticancer response with the standard dose of Gleevec initially, achieved a 35 percent complete response to Sprycel, compared with only 7 percent of those treated with the increased doses of Gleevec.
• Patients who did not receive a major anticancer response with the standard dose of Gleevec initially, achieved a 44 percent major anticancer response to Sprycel, compared to only 7 percent of those treated with the increased doses of Gleevec.
• The main side effect of Sprycel was low levels of blood cells, which may be partly corrected with the use of Neulasta.

The research has concluded that Sprycel provides superior responses to increased-doses of Gleevec among patients with chronic-phase CML who have stopped responding to prior Gleevec therapy.

Nilotinib is an investigational drug that targets the same protein as Gleevec, but through a different mechanism. Nilotinib, according to results recently presented at the 2006 meeting of the American Society of Hematology, is effective and well tolerated in patients with chronic-phase myeloid leukemia (CML) who do not respond to or cannot tolerate Gleevec.

In the past the only curative treatment for CML was a stem cell transplant. Researchers are focused on finding curative therapies that do not involve so much of a mortality risk and are more easily tolerated. A study was conducted to further evaluate the treatment with nilotinib in patients with CML who have stopped responding to Gleevec. Results of the study indicate that nilotinib was effective.

At one time, patients with blood cancers were treated with harsh drugs, like interferon or hydroxyurea, yet only two to three percent would ever achieve any sort of remission. Many would suffer such extreme side effects from these drugs they would stop taking the medication early, decreasing even further their potential odds for survival.

The fate of these patients is changing. And the proof is in print -- in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

It all began with the study of a highly targeted molecular therapy called STI571 -- designed to block the genetic aberration that gives rise to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a disease that affects about 6,000 Americans every year. A clinical trial followed, and a compound marketed by the drug company Novartis emerged. Today, this compound is know as Gleevec.

In the clinical trial of Gleevec, 1,106 CML patients were randomly chosen to receive either Gleevec or Interferon. Early results were so encouraging that all but three percent of the participants using Interferon switched to Gleevec. Five-year survival rates were 89 percent. And 93 percent of patients saw no progression to the acute phase of the disease. Many patients witnessed their blood counts return to normal, and a large number experienced a reverse in the gene mutation that causes CML. Virtually no one reported side effects while using the drug.

Despite a rare reaction that can cause heart failure, Gleevec has now been approved by the FDA for the treatment of six other rare, life-threatening disorders. And other drugs similar in nature to Gleevec are hitting the scene. Some believe long-term suppression of CML will come from a cocktail of these types of drugs.

For now, Gleevec -- on its own -- is a success story.

The drug Vidaza (azacitadine) can be an effective treatment for those elderly patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who cannot tolerate standard treatments, according to the journal Cancer. Treatment for AML patients often starts off with induction chemotherapy followed by consolidation therapy. The induction therapy usually consists of chemotherapy that will provide complete remission. The consolidation therapy is further treatment to help prevent recurrence.

There haven't been many strides in recent years for elderly patients diagnosed with AML. Some of these patients do not seem to be able to tolerate the same treatments given to younger patients diagnosed with the disease.

Vidaza has not been extensively studied with AML but is the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for myelodysplastic syndromes. It does have promise to help those who cannot tolerate standard treatments for AML. Researchers at the Western Pennsylvania Cancer Institute developed a trial that included 20 patients older than 55. Sixty percent of the 20 patients had anticancer responses. The patients that did respond to Vidaza were still alive at 15 months, compared to only 2.5 months for those who did not respond to the drug.

A review was done by an international panel of experts of literature concerning chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) for the recommendation of treatment options. The panel included ten members that reviewed 194 papers on CML written since 1998.

The article was recently published in the journal Blood. Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) has become a standard treatment for Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML. Specific guidelines for the use of Gleevec in the treatment of CML have recently been compiled.

• All newly diagnosed patients should be treated with 400 mg of Gleevec per day.
• Patients who do not respond to Gleevec should be treated with higher doses, an allogeneic stem cell transplantation, or experimental therapy. This experimental therapy could include agents designed to over come resistance to Gleevec.

Responses to treatment can be determined by several laboratory tests. Talk to your physician about specific details regarding responses to Gleevec.

Sadly, another cancer death has occurred -- this one caused by leukemia and ending the life of Arthur Lee. Lee, eccentric singer and guitarist with the 1960s rock band Love, died Thursday at the age of 61. His death was shocking to many who knew him because he had the ability to bounce back from just about everything. Leukemia was usually no exception. But recently, Lee, who was diagnosed this year with acute myeloid leukemia, was not faring well after three rounds of chemotherapy failed. And despite a bone marrow transplant using stem cells from an umbilical cord -- the first of its kind for an adult in Tennessee -- Lee could not overcome cancer.

Lee, a Memphis native, called himself "the first so-called black hippie." In 1965, he formed Love -- the first multiracial rock band of the psychedelic era -- and his groundbreaking albums featured a blend of folk rock, blues, and early punk. Lee is remembered for his hit singles My Little Red Book and Revelation, for influencing bands like Led Zeppelin and Echo, and for spending six years in prison during the 1990s for firing a pistol into the air.

After his release from prison in 2001, Lee formed a new version of Love and performed in Europe and North America. And then others -- like former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant -- performed for him this June in benefit concerts to raise money to help Lee with his medical bills.

Arthur Lee died in at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis -- with his wife Diane at his side.

Study results published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute report that Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne researchers found a correlation between a disappearing waistline and weight gain with an increased risk of developing myeloid leukemia. They believe there might be something in fat tissue that causes greater cancer risks for this blood cancer. In addition, according to the research, overweight children and adults with myeloid leukemia cancer have a greater risk of cancer relapse.

Dr. Anna M. Butturini, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California suggests that the medical cancer community really doesn't know how to dose chemotherapy in overweight people. She speculates that leukemia cells in overweight people might respond differently to chemotherapy than it does for people of normal range weight.