Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Where Are We in the Current TKI Era?

The survival rate for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who are treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) is now similar to that of the healthy population. However, recent reports of adverse events in patients who received TKI treatment have raised concerns about long-term sequelae of drugs that have been administered for decades. Improving the management of TKI-related adverse events and increasing the number of patients eligible for treatment-free remission will be essential to improving patients’ quality of life.

Dr. François-Xavier Mahon will review and summarize the recent studies related to TKI cessation in patients with deep molecular response, which have raised the idea of treatment-free remission. He will also discuss the awareness of CML curability.

Dr. Javid Moslehi will discuss the side effects of BCR-ABL1 TKI, focusing on cardiovascular toxicity. He will review what is currently known about the cardiovascular toxicities of TKI and discuss potential mechanisms underlying cardiovascular adverse events. Dr. Moslehi will provide the practical progress and recommendations for using TKI, illustrating the essential cooperation between hematologists and cardiologists.

Dr. Ravi Bhatia will review the concept of TKI resistance, focusing on leukemic stem cells. He will discuss new therapies for CML, with the goal of increasing the rate of treatment-free remission candidates. Dr. Bhatia will explain how to better target the leukemic stem cells and will review the current clinical trials which attempt to eliminate them.