 Earlier pre-clinical studies and clinical trials have suggested the alisertib may have clinical promise as a single agent in acute myeloid leukemia. Alisertib is a selective small molecule inhibitor of Aurora A kinase, an enzyme which may play a role in the survival of leukemia cells. Alisertib is being studied for the treatment of advanced malignancies, including AML. Essentially, this means that alisertib may work to halt the growth of malignancy abnormal cells dividing without control and invading nearby tissues through a targeted mechanism. By combining alisertib with standard chemotherapy, the hope is to enhance the efficacy of current treatment used for acute myeloid leukemia. An earlier study of this combination has completed accrual, and demonstrated that the regimen is well tolerated. 