Jonas Discusses the Role of E-Selectin in AML

Brian A. Jonas, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California, discusses novel biomarkers being explored in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including e-selectin, which Jonas believes is very promising.

According to Jonas, e-selectin is not yet among the biomarkers that aid decision-making in AML. Those biomarkers include genetic lesions, mutations, and chromosome abnormalities. Approved therapies exist for many of these alterations.

In the marrow microenvironment, e-selectin is a molecule that attaches to a ligand on a cell. E-selectin antagonists can bind to the cancer cells in the bone marrow and disrupt the mechanism of leukemic cell resistance. Jonas says this is a potential target for AML treatment.

Jonas says, in an interview, that a drug has been developed to target e-selectin in patients with AML. Recent results announced from the phase 1/2 of uproleselan (NCT02306291) showed improvement in overall survival and tolerable safety in the relapsed or refractory AML subgroup. The study is ongoing.

TRANSCRIPT:

0:08 | When we think about the bottom records with the most data right now, I would think of things like the genetic lesions and the mutations, the chromosome abnormalities, as being the principal driving force in a lot of our decision-making in AML. This is true whether it's a decision about transplant, or a decision about therapy. But there are emerging market biomarkers out there, and one of them is e-selectin.

0:40 | E-selectin is involved in the bone marrow microenvironment where the hematopoietic stem cells, and the leukemia stem cells are located. It's a molecule, it's kind of like a sticky molecule that binds the selected ligand on the cell, and then it causes them to be retained or stay in that microenvironment. It’s involved in a lot of the interactions involved in a lot of intracellular pathways as well. It can be a potential target for AML treatment.