1
|
Baccarani M, Bonifazi F, Soverini S, Castagnetti F, Gugliotta G, Saber W, Estrada-Merly N, Rosti G, Gale RP. Questions concerning tyrosine kinase-inhibitor therapy and transplants in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukaemia. Leukemia 2022; 36:1227-1236. [PMID: 35338251 PMCID: PMC9061294 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-022-01522-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
In this provocative commentary, we consider several questions posed by the late chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) expert Prof. Michele Baccarani, which he challenged us to address after his death. He noted only a small proportion of people with chronic phase CML receiving tyrosine kinase-inhibitor (TKI)-therapy are likely to achieve sustained therapy-free remission (TFR) and even fewer are likely to be cured. Persons most likely to fail TKItherapy can be identified at diagnosis or soon after starting TKI-therapy. These persons are likely to need lifetime TKI-therapy with attendant risks of adverse events, cost and psychological consequences. Allogeneic transplants achieve much higher rates of leukaemia-free survival compared with TKI-therapy but are associated with transplant-related adverse events including an almost 20 percent risk of transplant-related deaths within 1 year post-transplant and a compromised quality-of-life because of complications such as chronic graft-versus-host disease. Subject-, disease- and transplant-related co-variates associated with transplant outcomes are known with reasonable accuracy. Not everyone likely to fail TKI-therapy is a transplant candidate. However, in those who candidates are physicians and patients need to weigh benefits and risks of TKI-therapy versus a transplant. We suggest transplants should be more often considered in the metric when counseling people with chronic phase CML unlikely to achieve TFR with TKI-therapy. We question whether we are discounting a possible important therapy intervention; we think so.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michele Baccarani
- IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero -Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), Hematology 'Lorenzo e Ariosto Seràgnoli', University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Simona Soverini
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), Hematology 'Lorenzo e Ariosto Seràgnoli', University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Fausto Castagnetti
- IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero -Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), Hematology 'Lorenzo e Ariosto Seràgnoli', University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Wael Saber
- Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research), Milwaukee, WI, USA
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Noel Estrada-Merly
- Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research), Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | | | - Robert Peter Gale
- Haematology Research Centre, Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College London, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Barosi G, Gale RP. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion but not to their own facts. Br J Haematol 2022; 196:1290-1292. [PMID: 35037244 DOI: 10.1111/bjh.18035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Barosi
- Center for the Study of Myelofibrosis, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Robert Peter Gale
- Haematology Research Centre, Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College London, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|