The role of venetoclax in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Abstract
The ability to avoid apoptosis is regarded as one of the main hallmarks of neoplastic diseases and is often related to therapy resistance. Proteins of the BCL2 family are known as key regulators of apoptosis. Numerous research points to their expression deregulation in lymphoid derived neoplastic diseases. BCL2 was shown to be upregulated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells and identified as key mechanism responsible for resistance towards apoptosis. Up until now, conducted trials aimed at targeting the proteins expression or its activity with oligonucleotides or unspecific inhibitors did not meet the expectations. Development of a specific BCL2 inhibitor, venetoclax, may be a potential breakthrough in the therapy of relapsed and refractory CLL. In this publication the mechanism of action, clinical effectiveness and adverse event profile of BCL2 inhibitors treatment is discussed.
Keywords: chronic lymphocytic leukemiatargeted therapyBCL2venetoclaxapoptosis
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