Monitoring molecular response in chronic myeloid leukemia

Jorge Cortes, Alfonso Quintás-Cardama, Hagop M. Kantarjian

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Before the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, the evaluation of hematologic and cytogenetic responses was sufficient to gauge treatment efficacy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. However, with more potent TKI therapies, the majority of patients achieve complete cytogenetic response. Furthermore, deeper molecular responses are now commonly achieved, necessitating a reliance on molecular monitoring to assess residual leukemic disease. The prognostic significance between molecular responses and duration of complete cytogenetic response, progression-free survival, and event-free survival is described herein. A discussion of the concept of complete molecular response is also provided, and the potential for imatinib treatment discontinuation is evaluated. The implications of rising BCR-ABL1 transcript levels and caveats of molecular monitoring are also described.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1113-1122
Number of pages10
JournalCancer
Volume117
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 15 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • BCR-ABL
  • chronic myeloid leukemia
  • imatinib
  • molecular response
  • tyrosine kinase inhibitor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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