[[{"@type":["BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/#BlogPosting","@context":{"@vocab":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","kg":"http:\/\/g.co\/kg"},"url":["https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/","https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/"],"publisher":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/"}],"author":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/#BlogPosting_author_Organization","name":"Regional Cancer Care Associates"}],"inLanguage":"en-US","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/#BlogPosting_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Joel-Silver.jpg"}],"headline":"Targeting Treatments for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia","dateModified":"2021-11-11T14:55:32+00:00","datePublished":"2018-02-08T21:03:37+00:00","description":"Targeted has proven a more effective way of treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia than chemotherapies. Learn more from Dr. Joel Silver of RCCA online.","articleBody":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 8, 2018\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\nDr. Joel Silver\nA. We don\u2019t know what causes CLL. We do know that people in some occupations or with a certain exposure history might be at higher risk, and that CLL generally affects older people. Treatment fortunately is not needed in many cases, but even so our treatment options have evolved based on cytogenetics and next-generation sequencing. We have more ways to assess prognostic features and design more personalized and potentially more effective therapy for people with CLL.\nA. If you can identify a certain kind of CLL, such as IDH-mutated CLL, some of the patients with it can receive a standard chemotherapy regimen called FCR, and they sometimes go into remission indefinitely. It depends on whether the patient is young and healthy enough to tolerate the therapy. That\u2019s a select group, though; you don\u2019t see too many young people with CLL.\nYears ago, an effective treatment did not exist for another group of patients with CLL, those with the genetic 17p deletion. In recent years, however, the oral agent ibrutinib has shown effectiveness for CLL in this group. Other therapies now are available for patients who don\u2019t respond to ibrutinib.\nA. In general, \u201ctargeted therapy\u201d refers to a treatment based on a particular mutation or pattern. The presence of the genetic 17p deletion in CLL is one example, but this is a bad cytogenetic abnormality for which standard treatments such as chemotherapy haven\u2019t worked. If we can identify a particular mutation, then we can target our therapy and plan treatment that we know will work, instead of going through chemotherapies that are only partially effective or downright ineffective and then finding that the patient is resistant to treatment.\nA. Everything we do has side effects. The oral agent ibrutinib has been an effective first-line therapy for any type of CLL. Although the agent is specifically for patients with 17p deletion, it has also worked for patients without that genetic feature. While some cardiovascular and bleeding issues have been reported, ibrutinib overall is more tolerable than chemotherapy.\nWhen we medically examine patients with CLL, we always look at a pattern of mutations to try to identify how to treat these people \u2014 not so much from an immediate therapeutic standpoint, but to gain knowledge of all these other cytogenetic abnormalities so that eventually, we will find other ways to target those different patterns.\nA. Many people with CLL don\u2019t die of their disease, they die with their disease, so I tell patients not to be afraid of the disease itself. Many of the conversations we have with these people, however, revolve around the fact that they have this problem but may never need treatment. \u201cWe should follow you because you may need treatment down the line,\u201d I tell them. \u201cIf you need treatment, we have many effective therapies.\u201d\nA. A number of medications are on the horizon that will be appropriate for any patient with CLL. For example, venetoclax, which gained FDA approval last year, is indicated for second-line treatment of CLL in patients with the 17p deletion, but I think that agent will be effective for all patients with CLL. As similarly versatile agents are developed, we will have many more treatment options.\nwe are here for you\nFor more information or to schedule an appointment, call 844-346-7222. You can also schedule an appointment by calling the RCCA location nearest you.\nRELATED ARTICLES\nRegional Cancer Care Associates is one of fewer than 200 medical practices in the country selected to participate in the Oncology Care Model (OCM); a recent Medicare initiative aimed at improving care coordination and access to and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries undergoing chemotherapy treatment.\n\u00a9 2022 Regional Cancer Care Associates. 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Fight cancer with leading-edge treatments, experienced skill and local caring\/convenience from one of the nation's largest networks of cancer specialists.","email":"info@regionalcancercare.org","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/","url":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/rgnlcancercare","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/regionalcancercareassoc","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10059183","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCFlVzU4UvZcyXBCe9ZSvAUQ"],"telephone":"+1 (844) 346-7222","name":"Regional Cancer Care Associates","@id":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/"}],{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Targeting Treatments for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia","item":"https:\/\/www.regionalcancercare.org\/news\/targeting-treatments-chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]