The anti-cancer drug Gleevec, highly touted for slowing the progression of chronic myeloid leukemia, also appears to stall a rare kind of skin cancer, a new study finds.Eight of 10 patients had their disease controlled with Gleevec or with a combination of Gleevec and surgery, according to a report on the research presented Sept. 29 in Geneva at a meeting of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.The skin cancer, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), is a malignant tumor that grows in the second layer of the skin. The researchers decided to try Gleevec because earlier research had shown that a gene called the platelet-derived growth factor receptor B (PDGFB) was rearranged in DFSP.The rearrangement involves a translocation between chromosomes 17 and 22, which results in too much PDGFB, and Gleevec inhibits the PDGFB receptor.In the trial, the 10 patients were given 800 milligrams of imatinib [Gleevec] daily. Among the eight who responded to treatment, two had a complete response. Four had partial responses and required surgery to make them disease-free.Two other patients had metastatic DSFP with a more complex genetic profile. One, who had a translocation of chromosomes 17 and 22, had a partial response to Gleevec. However, after seven months of treatment, the disease progressed. The other patient did not have the translocation between chromosomes 17 and 22 and did not respond to Gleevec.Knowing the genetic profile of the tumor will help determine which patients will respond to Gleevec, the scientists pointed out.Lead researcher Dr. Grant McArthur, head of the Molecular Oncology and Translational Research Laboratories at the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, said in a statement that more than 95 percent of DFSP tumors have the translocation between chromosomes 17 and 22.
