Gleevec® is one of the first drugs to be developed by rational drug design, in other words, from an understanding of the way that the cancer it treats works.
Chronic myelogenous leukemia is caused by excess production of white blood cells. A swap of genetic material between Chromosomes 9 and 22 occurs within the nucleus of a white blood cell and in the exchange, part of the bcr gene on Chromosome 22 is switched with part of the abl gene on Chromosome 9. This produces an abnormal gene called bcr-abl which results in the abl protein continuing to signal and the white blood cells to keep dividing.
Gleevec® (STI-571) is designed to target the abl protein and prevent it from transmitting the signal that triggers the cell to divide.
