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    Leukemia. 2008 May;22(5):898-904. Epub 2008 Mar 20.

    Rac GTPases as key regulators of p210-BCR-ABL-dependent leukemogenesis.

    Thomas EK, Cancelas JA, Zheng Y, Williams DA.

    Division of Experimental Hematology, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

    Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a malignant disease characterized by expression of p210-BCR-ABL, the product of the Philadelphia chromosome. Survival of CML patients has been significantly improved with the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors that induce long-term hematologic remissions. However, mounting evidence indicates that the use of a single tyrosine kinase inhibitor does not cure this disease due to the persistence of p210-BCR-ABL at the molecular level or the acquired resistance in the stem cell compartment to individual inhibitors. We have recently shown in a murine model that deficiency of the Rho GTPases Rac1 and Rac2 significantly reduces p210-BCR-ABL-mediated proliferation in vitro and myeloproliferative disease in vivo, suggesting Rac as a potential therapeutic target in p210-BCR-ABL-induced disease. This target has been further validated using a first-generation Rac-specific small molecule inhibitor. In this review we describe the role of Rac GTPases in p210-BCR-ABL-induced leukemogenesis and explore the possibility of combinatorial therapies that include tyrosine kinase inhibitor(s) and Rac GTPase inhibitors in the treatment of CML.

    PMID: 18354486 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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