Prospective multicentre study of chemotherapeutic regimen containing pirarubicin on the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia in adults / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the efficacy and toxicity of the chemotherapeutic regimen containing pirarubicin and mitoxantrone on the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In this open prospective multicentre study, we randomly assigned patients with relapsed or refractory AML to receive TAE regimen (pirarubicin+cytarabine+etoposide) versus MAE regimen (mitoxantrone + cytarabine + etoposide). The efficacy and toxicity were compared between the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>56 patients entered this clinical trial. The complete remission (CR) rate on TAE arm was 79.0% versus 55.6% on MAE arm with the overall response (OR) rates of 86.8% versus 88.9%, respectively. The CR was higher on TAE arm (P=0.035) but with no significant difference between the two groups regarding the overall response (OR) rate. The regimens were well tolerated in both groups. Hematologic and non-hematologic toxicity were similar except relatively lower the mean dosage of G-CSF, red blood cells and platelets transfusion on TAE arm. No significant differences were seen between the two groups regarding the overall survival and relapse free survival rates.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TAE regimen might be an effective salvage therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory AML.</p>

Mitochondria:new intracellular pharmacological target / 中国药理学通报

Mitochondria not only acts a key role in en ergy generating process within the cell, but also is intimately associated with some important even ts in cells, such as apoptosis, generation of reactive oxygen species, lipid met abolism etc. For its special structure and function, mitochondria, as the pharma cological target for many agents, interacts with drugs extensively. Learning the interaction between mitochondria and drugs will greatly contribute to the under standing of the mechanism of the drugs, the design of new agents and the avoidan ce of the drug toxicity and side effect. This review is to present the related p roperties of mitochondria and its interactions with classical mitochondrial-tar geted drugs.