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Abstract
In an article about epigenetic therapy published a little more than 10 years ago(1) we specified that “…
The development of highly efficient new treatments with less side effects offers a breakpoint to the traditional oncology therapy. These new treatments were characterized by a long survival expectancy, a better quality of life and, the possibility of reaching a bigger number of patients...”. After such a long time, we should ask ourselves whether these expectations have been fulfilled.
Undoubtedly, the hypomethylating agents (HMAs) represented a significant advance in real-life clinical practice but, their efficacy was not so strong as we expected. Therefore, this therapy left us with a big gap between patient needs and a real success. In this controversial scenario, a series of promising studies have been developed and could change our future in the short/medium term.
In this work, we will analyze HMAs` achievements and limitations in an effort to establish and outline its real possibilities. This article is divided into four parts (part 1 and 2 have already been published in a previous edition) dealing with the following questions: what have we learnt in the last 10 years from literature? (part 1) what is our experience in Latin America? (part 2), which are the new stratification system for predicting results? (part 3) and, what kind of novel treatment should we use after the failure of HMAs? (part 4).
References
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