Open AccessSteroid resistance in leukemia
Author(s) -
Darshan Shah,
Raj Kumar
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
world journal of experimental medicine
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-315X
DOI - 10.5493/wjem.v3.i2.21
Subject(s) - leukemia , myeloid leukemia , drug resistance , medicine , mechanism of action , drug , mechanism (biology) , steroid , lymphoblastic leukemia , myeloid , lymphoid leukemia , immunology , pharmacology , cancer research , oncology , biology , genetics , philosophy , epistemology , hormone , in vitro
There are several types of leukemia which are characterized by the abnormal growth of cells from the myeloid or lymphoid lineage. Because of their lympholytic actions, glucocorticoids (GCs) are included in many therapeutic regimens for the treatment of various forms of leukemia. Although a significant number of acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients respond well to GC treatment during initial phases; prolonged treatments sometimes results in steroid-resistance. The exact mechanism of this resistance has yet not been completely elucidated, but a correlation between functional GC receptor expression levels and steroid-resistance in patients has been found. In recent years, several other mechanisms of action have been reported that could play an important role in the development of such drug resistances in leukemia. Therefore, a better understanding of how leukemic patients develop drug resistance should result in drugs designed appropriately to treat these patients.