Mutation-targeted therapy and precision medicine can be part of your journey
Precision medicines work by treating cancer with medicines tailored to specific genetic abnormalities or mutations in your cancer.1
Targeted therapies and AML
These therapies aim to slow cancer growth by blocking specific proteins or genes cancer cells rely on to survive and spread.2
Immunotherapy and AML
Current development and testing of immunotherapies holds potential promise for the treatment of AML.3

How AML mutation-targeted
therapies work4
Today, researchers and healthcare providers know a lot about how certain genetic mutations result in changes in cells that cause them to divide and grow as cancer cells. Mutation-targeted therapies attack cells with the mutation and stop or change the mechanisms that lead to cancerous growth.
For example, a genetic mutation called IDH prevents young myeloblasts from maturing into healthy white blood cells. When these affected myeloblasts continue reproducing, they crowd out healthy cells.
If you have the IDH mutation, there may be a specific, targeted treatment that can help you.
Find out about an approved, targeted therapy for AML in patients with the IDH mutation.
IDH mutations are among the most common genetic alterations in AML, detected in 15-20% of patients5
“I had my first treatment. I took a selfie because I thought this is big. And this is hope.”
— Shirley O’Brien, AML Patient
Need more AML resources and support? Start here
References
1. National Cancer Institute, Precision Medicine.
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/precision-medicine.
2. Precision or Personalized Medicine. American Cancer Society.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/treatment-types/precision-medicine.html.
3. National Library of Medicine, The Latest Breakthroughs in Immunotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia, with a Special Focus on NKG2D Ligands Published online 2022 Dec 14.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9784434/.
4. MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute), Testa, U., Castelli, G., Pelosi, E., Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Mutations in Myelodysplastic Review, Syndromes and in Acute Myeloid Leukemias. Published: 26 August 2020.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/9/2427
5. Nature Portfolio Journals, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Kunadt, D., Stasik, S., Metzeler, K.H. et al. Impact of IDH1 and IDH2 mutational subgroups in AML patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. J Hematol Oncol 15, 126 (2022 ).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-022-01339-8