Abstract
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a progressive and often fatal hematopoietic neoplasm characterized by the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome. This arises from a balanced translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22, creating the bcr-abl fusion gene. It is often stated that the only proven curative option is allogeneic stem cell transplantation, which is indicated for only a limited subset of patients. The Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib represented a major advance over conventional CML therapy. After imatinib treatment, > 90% of patients had a complete hematologic response, and 70%-80% had a complete cytogenetic response. With 5 years of follow-up, the data are very encouraging and exhibit a major change in the natural history of the disease. The understanding of some of the mechanisms of resistance to imatinib has led to a rapid development of new agents that might overcome this resistance. The outlook today for patients with CML is much brighter than that of a few years ago.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | S51-S57 |
Journal | Clinical Lymphoma and Myeloma |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | SUPPL. 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2007 |
Funding
Dr Jabbour is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau for Novartis Oncology and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr Cortes has received research support from Breakthrough Therapeutics, Novartis Oncology, Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals. He is also a member of the Speaker’s Bureau for Novartis Oncology and Celgene. Dr O’Brien has received research support from Genentech BioOncol, Berlex, and Biogen Idec. Dr Rios is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau for Bristol-Myers Squibb and has received other remuneration from Novartis. Dr Giles has received research support from Novartis Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, SGX Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, and Pfizer. Dr Kantarjian has received research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis Oncology, and MGI Pharma. This article includes discussion of investigational and/or unlabeled uses of drugs, including the use of nilotinib, p210 multipeptide vaccine, nonpeptide PR1 vaccine, and a heat-shock protein–70–based vaccine in the treatment of CML.
Keywords
- Cytogenetic response
- Immunotherapy
- Myeloid blast crisis
- Myelosuppression
- Stem cell transplantation
- Tyrosine kinase inhibitors
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Cancer Research