Imatinib Treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. Cohort of Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a malignant clonal alteration of the pluripotent haemopoietic stem cell. The genetic hallmarks of the disease are the t(9,22) (Philadelphia chromosome), registered by conventional cytogenetics in more than 90% of all chronic myeloid leukaemia cases and the active tyrosine kinase protein encoded by bcr-abl fusion gene. The constitutively active tyrosine kinase is currently accepted to be the cause of chronic myeloid leukaemia. The introduction of imatinib has considerably changed the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia. Prior studies demonstrated high rates of cytogenetic responses in all phases of the disease. Methods: The authors evaluated the cytogenetic and molecular responses of 20 chronic phase chronic myeloid leukaemia patients who were consecutively admitted to their center. 13 of them were primarily treated with imatinib, and the other 7 were heavily pretreated with interferon alfa, cytarabine, all-trans-retinoic acid. Hydroxyurea pretreatment was rout...