Targeted therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been shown to be successful in extending patients’ life expectancy by controlling the reproduction of cancerous cells with an oncogene not found in healthy cells, a cancer expert said yesterday on World CML Day.
Hsu Szu-chun (徐思淳), director of the hematology and oncology division at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that the patient who has received targeted therapy for the longest time in Taiwan — 13 years — has nearly no oncogenes in his blood cells. Oncogenes are genes that can potentially cause cancer. The one associated with CML is called the Philadelphia chromosome.
Some women taking targeted medication have to pair it with long-term contraceptives to prevent birth defects. However, a small portion are able to conceive after suspending their therapy temporarily with their doctor’s approval and then resume treatment after delivery, he said.
A woman with two children surnamed Wu (吳) was 29 when she was diagnosed with CML and told she had less than a year to live.
Since undergoing targeted therapy, Wu said she feels she has been given “an extra 12 years of life,” which allowed her to attend her elder son’s kindergarten and junior-high school graduations. She is now looking forward to seeing him graduate from senior-high school in a year.
Targeted drug treatment has changed the lives of many CML patients, Hsu said, adding that 100 to 200 new cases are diagnosed each year in Taiwan.
Most patients diagnosed in the disease’s acute phase die within a year, but targeted therapy can help keep CML in the initial phase for five to 10 years, or longer, Hsu said.
He said that some Asian female patients have reported what they find to be a positive side effect of the treatment: preventing tanning.
The therapy has replaced stem cell transplants using bone marrow or umbilical cord blood and rewritten the treatment guidelines for CML, Hsu said.
Between 30 percent and 40 percent of patients undergoing the therapy have a hard time coping with side effects such as abdominal pain and fluid buildup, or experienced oncogene mutation that rendered the drugs ineffective, he said. This is why the National Health Insurance Administration decided to cover second-generation targeted drugs for future patients and those undergoing treatment, Hsu added.
He said that second-generation drugs can get the disease under control faster and may improve patients’ quality of life, as well as extending their life expectancy.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS