Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Patients with early-stage, asymptomatic, newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia showed improved survival outcomes with ibrutinib monotherapy compared with placebo, according to results from phase III CLL12 study presented at the 2019 European Hematology Association Congress.<br /> &nbsp;

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia showed high responses when given a combination of acalabrutinib and obinutuzumab, which targets BTK and the CD20 antigen. High response rates over 90% were seen across various settings of disease, according to the results of a small, preliminary trial.

According to the pivotal phase III CLL14 study presented during the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, venetoclax plus obinutuzumab demonstrated a lengthening in progression-free survival time for patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia compared with obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil. Trial results show that the chemotherapy-free combination reduced the risk for disease worsening or death by 65% compared with obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

According to updated data from the phase II ELIANA study,&nbsp;CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel as treatment of&nbsp;pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia sustained rates of&nbsp;relapse-free survival and overall survival at 24 and 18 months.&nbsp;

CLL is a malignant disease characterized by progressive accumulation of immature, immunophenotypically distinct lymphocytes in the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic tissues. Although the clinical course of CLL can be unpredictable, this disease is typically slow-progressing and occurs most often in patients &ge;65 years of age.&nbsp;As such, treatment, if indicated, is typically conservative.&nbsp;Current CLL treatments are not considered to be curative; however, long-term remission can be achieved in some patients using allogenic stem cell transplantation.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is characterized by the clonal proliferation and accumulation of small, mature-appearing CD5-positive B lymphocytes in the blood, bone marrow, and secondary lymphoid tissues.&nbsp;A CLL diagnosis is established by the presence of more than 5x109/L peripheral lymphocytes co-expressing CD5, CD19, and CD23, and weakly expressing CD20, CD79b, and surface immunoglobulin.&nbsp;Small lymphocytic lymphoma represents a clinical variant of CLL and is similarly managed.

Sarah K. Tasian, MD, discusses what she finds most interesting about Philadelphia chromosome (Ph-like) acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Dasatinib has been granted approval by the European Commission as a treatment for children and&nbsp;adolescent patients aged 1 to 18 years with Philadelphia chromosome&ndash;positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase,&nbsp;according to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of the tyrosine&nbsp;kinase inhibitor.

According to results presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting,&nbsp;moxetumomab pasudotox, a first-in-class recombinant immunotoxin targeting CD22, demonstrated deep and durable responses in a substantial proportion of pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia.