Chronic myelogenous leukemia: The news you have and haven’t heard

ABSTRACT

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) can usually be cured by bone marrow transplantation from matched donors. Donor T-cell activity from the graft is critical to maintaining remission. Myeloablation may not be necessary for cure. Non-myeloablative but immunosuppressive preparative regimens allow donor engraftment with less toxicity. Early combination therapy with interferon-alfa and cytarabine was the preferred option for patients who could not undergo bone marrow transplantation. Now, the advent of imatinib mesylate, a specific inhibitor of BCR/ABL tyrosine kinase, promises to change existing treatment paradigms