Nilotinib-Chemotherapy in CML Myeloid BP or Bcr-abl(+) AML

The current standard therapy in previously untreated adults with chronic phase (CP) of CML is imatinib and the result of long-term follow-up of IRIS study proves that imatinib for CML CP is reasonable therapy.(1, 2) However, some patients were initially diagnosed as advanced CML, accelerated phase (AP) or blastic phase (BP). Various chemotherapies were tried and were found that there were no highly effective chemotherapies for CML BP.(3-11) Imatinib in patients with these advanced CML is also disappointing because of low response rates as well as short response duration, and sudden transformation to BC is found even in initial CML CP patients. (12-17). Recent studies showed that nilotinib or dasatinib is better than imatinib in terms of rapid response and higher molecular response in newly diagnosed CML patients.(18-21) More potent bcr-abl suppression of nilotinib is supposed to be more active than imatinib even in patients with advanced CML. However, nilotinib in patients with imatinib-resistant or -intolerant CML BP showed low hematologic response and major cytogenetic response.(22, 23)