Treatment progress of chronic myeloid leukemia

Abstract

A great progress has been made in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) owing to the first generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Nowadays, more and more hematologists are eager to understand how to rapidly reduce the BCR-ABL transcripts level, and to get the standard therapeutic reactions, which emerges the second generation TKI. However, the first and second generation TKI have the potential of drug resistance, and thus the third and fourth generation TKI may resolve this problem. Imatinib drug discontinuation trial emphasizes the importance of digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the probability of the second treatment-free remission. Key words: Leukemia, myelogenous, chronic, BCR-ABL positive; Tyrosine kinase inhibitor; Drug discontinuation trial