Major Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatments

Stem Cell Transplant

Following chemotherapy or radiation therapy the doctor may choose to complete a stem cell transplant. The stem cells being used are 'blood-forming stem cells,' which can come from embryos or the bone marrow of adult donors. The objective of the transplant is for the stem cells to settle in the patient's bone marrow and over a period of several days, start to generate new bone marrow, replacing what has been damaged in the various processes of radiation and chemotherapy.

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs that work by targeting certain characteristics of cancer cells. There are several different targeted therapy drugs. FLT3 inhibitors are a targeted therapy drug able to treat individuals with leukemia cells containing a mutation in the FLT3 gene, which provides the instructions on how to produce the FLT3 protein that helps cancer cells grow and multiply. FLT3 inhibitors use this protein to target and kill leukemia cells.

IDH inhibitors target leukemia cells with a mutation in the IDH1 or IDH2 gene, which contain the instructions for the production of IDH1 and IDH2 proteins. IDH inhibitors stop these proteins, which helps the leukemia cells differentiate into normal cells. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin is a form of targeted therapy that works by directing a certain chemotherapy drug to a protein found on leukemia cells. BCL-2 inhibitors target a protein present in leukemia cells that allows these cancerous cells to live longer than they normally would.