Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia: study demonstrates the effectiveness of biological therapies in elderly patients
28.04.2025
A research team led by the University of Padua coordinated a key study on targeted therapies for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a rare cancer that represents the most frequent type of leukaemia affecting the western population. One-third of patients diagnosed with this disease are over 80 years old, and the treatment and management of this patient group is a challenge for medicine due to their fragility and exclusion from clinical trials.
In the study "Venetoclax based regimens in octogenarian CLL patients: efficacy, safety and comparison to BTKi in a multicenter cohort," published in the prestigious journal "Blood" and coordinated by Andrea Visentin from the Department of Medicine at the University of Padua, in collaboration with Massimo Gentile from the Hematology Unit of Cosenza, data from over 120 patients from 23 institutions across the country were collected, managing to analyse the largest group of patients over 80 treated with venetoclax. "Venetoclax is an anti-cancer compound administered in tablets that targets BCL2, a protein altered in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, and when targeted, leads to the death of leukaemia cells," explains Prof. Livio Trentin, Chair of Hematology at the University of Padua and Director of the Hematology Unit at the Padua University Hospital.
"The key to this study was the personalisation of therapy," explains Andrea Visentin, coordinator of the study. "Reducing the drug dosage or reaching the full dose more slowly allowed us to limit the side effects of the therapy while ensuring its effectiveness. Today, we have many active biological drugs against tumours; balancing efficacy and side effects is the great challenge we will face in the coming years."
"It is interesting to note," says Trentin, "that the first authors of this study on patients aged 80-94 are young researchers: a research fellow, Alessandro Cellini, and a specialist trainee, Andrea Serafin. Additionally, these studies hold social importance because they were carried out thanks to the involvement and contribution of the volunteer association 'Ricerca per Credere nella Vita' (RCV), an association created by one of our patients, Franca Boschello, and her brother Renzo, which has supported the facility where we operate for about 20 years."
The chronic lymphocytic leukaemia research team at the Hematology Unit of the Padua University Hospital has presented projects and conducted international relations, confirming itself as one of the European reference centres for this disease.
