BACKGROUND: All studies of treatment-free remission (TFR) in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia have discontinued tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment abruptly and have focussed on patients with stable MR4 (BCR-ABL to ABL ratio ≤0·01%). We aimed to examine the effects of gradual treatment withdrawal and whether TFR is feasible for patients with a less deep but stable remission.
CML Horizons Conference Lisbon Portugal
May 17th - 19th 2019
Nigel Deekes, as the CML Support Group’s conference delegate, describes highlights from this year’s conference.
BACKGROUND
Latest NCCN guidelines for management of CML include protocols for TKI discontinuation.
Article here:
https://www.onclive.com/conference-coverage/nccn-2019/tki-discontinuatio...
Updated guidelines here:
https://jnccn.org/downloadpdf/journals/jnccn/16/9/article-p1108.pdf
Up to 80% of CML patients using tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) reports muscle complaints. These muscle complaints are strongly related to the presence of fatigue and contributes to both diminished disease control and impaired quality of life. Although the mechanism by which TKIs cause muscle complaints is poorly understood, mitochondrial dysfunction has been suggested to play a pivotal role in TKI-induced cardiac muscle toxicity.
For further reading, follow the link below:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently released an alert about batches of ponatinib (Iclusig) that are not authentic.
The technical description of drugs that are not authentic is that they are “Falsified Medicines”.
This situation has similarities with counterfeit versions of well known brands of clothing, trainers or perfumes you sometimes see for sale in street markets at prices way below those for the same products advertised for sale by reputable high street retailers.
A study is being sponsored by UCL School of Pharmacy in London to look into the acceptability of web-based video consultations for patients who are receiving treatment for CML at University College London Hospital UCLH.
To help with this, we are looking for people with CML to take part in a focus group to help the study team understand if the opinions of UCLH patients are similar to those of the wider CML patient population.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cancer Sciences have been awarded £3.1 million by Cancer Research UK to lead a first-of-its-kind pioneering study to help find new treatments for patients with difficult to treat CML. The trial will study whether a combination of TKI + another drug will kill stem cells in CML. It is based on groundbreaking work by the team in Glasgow led by the late Prof. Tess Holyoake which studied quiescent stem cells in CML.
In chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treatment response is determined by measurements of BCR-AB1L transcripts in peripheral blood by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and a 2–5 fold increase is considered a warning sign. The BCR-ABL1 gene is mainly expressed in myeloid cells whereas quantification of BCR-ABL1 is performed on the nucleated cell fraction of peripheral blood. Hence, leukocyte composition of the nucleated cell fraction may affect the result of BCR-ABL1 quantification.