Imatinib therapy for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia: are patients living longer?

Imatinib mesylate (imatinib), a selective inhibitor of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase, has shown excellent efficacy in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase, however, it does not in those in the accelerated phase or blastic crisis. In patients with CML who have undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation, imatinib has the capability to induce hematological and even molecular response, and provides a prolonged survival among those in the chronic and accelerated phases. It has been demonstrated that major cytogenic response is a surrogate marker for survival in cases receiving imatinib. It has also been demonstrated that a genome-wide cDNA microarray enables the prediction of sensitivity to imatinib. The acquired resistance in patients who failed to respond to imatinib seemed to be induced by several point mutations in the BCR-ABL gene, which were likely to affect the binding of imatinib with BCR-ABL. Polyclonal cells which harbor distinct mutations in a single patient seemed to be selected in vivo under the selective pressure of imatinib, indicating the rationale of combined treatment with other types of agents. Recently, SPIRIT (STI571 Prospective International Randomized Trials) have been conducted, in which the efficacy of imatinib monotherapy, and imatinib combined with interferon or cytarabine were compared. New agents which inhibit the signaling pathway related to BCR-ABL, such as adaphostin (NSC680410), farnesyltransferase inhibitor SCH66336, MAP kinase inhibitor PD184352, PD98059, U0126, and antibiotic geldanamycin, have shown excellent activity combined with imatinib in vitro.