Leukemia drug could save lives of stroke patients

Studies in mice reveal why tPA may cause brain damage
The drug tPA is the most effective treatment currently available for stroke patients, but its safety is limited to use within the first three hours following the onset of symptoms. After that, tPA may cause dangerous bleeding in the brain. However, in a study published today in Nature Medicine, investigators from the Stockholm Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the University of Michigan Medical School show that these problems might be overcome if tPA is combined with the leukemia drug, imatinib (Gleevec®). The results demonstrate that imatinib greatly reduces the risk of tPA-associated bleeding in mice, even when tPA was given as late as five hours after the stroke had begun. The LICR team, in collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, is now planning a clinical trial with imatinib in stroke patients.