Australian researchers have confirmed the protein involved in Gleevec’s transport into chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells and have shown that it is the activity of this protein which is a key determinant of response in CML patients.

Dr. Timothy Hughes, Department of Hematology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia, and his colleagues have recently reported in the journal, Blood, that “Most CML patients who have a suboptimal response to imatinib have low OCT-1 activity: higher doses of imatinib may overcome the negative impact of low OCT-1 activity”. Debra L. White, a PhD student in Dr. Hughes lab, was the lead author of this paper.

Thirteen GIST abstracts were presented this year at the 2008 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Space limitations will not permit us to report on all of these abstracts.

The first abstract by Dr. George Demetri is particularly timely as next month (March 2007) the Life Raft Group will report on an update of its 2004 dosage study which adds to the concern that some GIST patients (perhaps most GIST patients) are not receiving an adequate dose of Gleevec.