Chronic myeloid leukemia is a type of leukemia that starts in certain blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. The cancer spreads as the cancerous cells build up in the bone marrow and spill into the blood, which can carry it to other parts of the body.

Though CML leukemia is fairly slow growing, it can grow quickly and then become harder to treat. Treatment with the drug Tasigna is sometimes recommended. 

This type of cancer is chronic, which means that the cancer cells are mature, but not completely mature. Blood cells that are cancerous in the case of chronic myeloid leukemia may have some normal function but are still cancerous. According to Cancer.org, they do not fight infection as well as healthy white blood cells.

They can reportedly live longer than normal cells and can crowd out healthy cells in bone marrow. According to Cancer.org, people with chronic cancers like CML can live for many years because the disease can take a long time to cause problems. However, these conditions are harder to treat than acute leukemias, in which bone marrow cells cannot mature in the ways they should.

Is CML Treatable?

Though CML leukemia is harder to treat than acute leukemia, there are some treatments available.

In many cases, doctors combine treatments to get the best possible results. When multiple types of doctors work together to help treat one patient’s cancer, they form what is known as a multidisciplinary team. Cancer.net notes that in multidisciplinary teams, there is an oncologist along with a range of other health care professionals including “physician assistants, oncology nurses, social workers, pharmacists, councilors, dietitians, financial counselors, and others.”

There are three main types of therapy used to treat cancer:

• Targeted therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy

Cancer.net defines target therapy as a “treatment that targets the cancer’s specific genes, proteins, or the tine environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival,” and goes on to note that targeted treatment “blocks the growth and spread of cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy cells.”

The Tasigna drug is one such target therapy. The drug’s maker, Novartis, says that CML leukemia forms when a specific protein sends a signal to create leukemia cells in the blood and bone marrow.

According to the drug’s website, in test tube studies of Tasigna, the drug was able to bind to and stabilize the inactive form of the protein, which blocked the signal that led to the production of leukemia cells, thereby preventing the formation of leukemia cells. The Tasigna CML drug website claims that “blocking the signal may reduce the number of leukemic cells and allow healthy blood cells to grow.”

However, this treatment may come with some serious side effects that may pose serious danger to patients. Allegedly, Tasigna may be linked to atherosclerosis, or a hardening of the arteries, in some patients. This is caused by a build-up of internal plaque, and can reduce blood flow and therefore can reduce nutrient and oxygen supply to a patient’s brain, hard, organ symptoms, and limbs. It can be a life-threatening condition.

In April 2013, Health Canada warned that public that the Tasigna CML drug was liked to atherosclerosis and related vascular conditions including peripheral artery occlusion disease, femoral artery stenosis, carotid artery stenosis, coronary artery stenosis, and stroke.

Reportedly, there have already been numerous cases of patients developing atherosclerosis in connection with Tasigna CML drug use.