Treatment-Free Remission in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Harboring Atypical BCR-ABL1 Transcripts

Dragani, Matteo;Petiti, Jessica;Rege-Cambrin, Giovanna;Gottardi, Enrico;Daraio, Filomena;Caocci, Giovanni;Aguzzi, Chiara;Crisà, Elena;Andreani, Giacomo;Caciolli, Francesca;Fava, Carmen

2020-01-01

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Abstract

Discontinuation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) is the main goal today in the field of Philadelphia positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph + CML) and the criteria to attempt the interruption of therapy are well defined and rely on the possibility to regularly monitor the BCR-ABL1 transcript. Patients harboring atypical transcripts are automatically excluded from protocols due to the absence of a standardized method of quantification of their minimal residual disease (MRD). We report here the outcome of 6 patients with atypical transcripts with a long follow up whose MRD was followed in three cases with digital PCR during their treatment free remission (TFR).