Open AccessLeukemia, an effective model for chemical biology and target therapy 1
Author(s) -
CHEN Guoqiang,
WANG Lishun,
WU Yingli,
YU Yun
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
acta pharmacologica sinica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.514
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1745-7254
pISSN - 1671-4083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-7254.2007.00680.x
Subject(s) - arsenic trioxide , acute promyelocytic leukemia , leukemia , chronic myelogenous leukemia , imatinib , dasatinib , cancer research , targeted therapy , differentiation therapy , chemical biology , promyelocytic leukemia protein , medicine , biology , immunology , retinoic acid , cancer , myeloid leukemia , apoptosis , genetics , cell culture
The rapid rise of chemical biology aimed at studying signaling networks for basic cellular activities using specific, active small molecules as probes has greatly accelerated research on pathological mechanisms and target therapy of diseases. This research is especially important for malignant tumors such as leukemia, a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic malignancies that occurs worldwide. With the use of a chemical approach combined with genetic manipulation, great progress has been achieved over the past few decades on the biological, molecular and cytogenetic aspects of leukemia, and in its diagnosis and therapy. In particular, discoveries of the clinical effectiveness of all‐trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia and the kinase inhibitors Imatinib and Dasatinib in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia not only make target therapy of leukemia a reality, but also push mechanisms of leukemo‐genesis and leukemic cell activities forward. This review will outline advances in chemical biology that help our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cell differentiation and apoptosis induction and target therapy of leukemia.