Acadesine - a new agent in CLL

I have been involved peripherally with Acadesine for several years now. It had the advantages of being a purine analog that didn't kill T cells and that had already been trialed (albeit at a lower dose) in over 1000 cardiac patients. A paper in Blood last October demonstrates that its activity in CLL is not, as had been previously thought, confined to its activity against adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK). There is another mechanism that is independent of TP53 or ATM status. This suggests that Acadesine might be even more useful if it reaches clinical practice.