Imatinib treatment in chronic myelogenous leukemia: What have we learned so far?

Imatinib mesylate is currently the standard therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia patients. Despite the remarkable results achieved with imatinib, the emergence of resistance to this drug has become a significant problem. Actually, two other second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer letters 2011-01, Vol.300 (2), p.115-121
Main Authors: Breccia, Massimo, Efficace, Fabio, Alimena, Giuliana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Behavior
Benzamides
Binding sites
Bone marrow
Cancer
Chromosomes
Chronic illnesses
Chronic myelogenous leukemia
Compliance
cytogenetics
drug resistance
drugs
Electronic monitoring
health care costs
Heart attacks
Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine
Humans
Imatinib
Imatinib Mesylate
Leukemia
Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive - drug therapy
Molecular weight
Mortality
Paging systems
Patient Compliance
Patients
Physicians
Piperazines - therapeutic use
Proteins
Pyrimidines - therapeutic use
risk
Signal transduction
Studies
Systematic review
therapeutics
Transplants & implants
tyrosine
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Summary:Imatinib mesylate is currently the standard therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia patients. Despite the remarkable results achieved with imatinib, the emergence of resistance to this drug has become a significant problem. Actually, two other second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been used for resistant/intolerant patients to imatinib. With the availability of oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, questions relating to adherence to prescribed therapy have become an important issue. It has been demonstrated that the effectiveness of the treatment with imatinib requires high compliance to the prescribed dose of the drug for an indefinite period of time, whereas reduced adherence to therapy has been associated with delay in achieving cytogenetic or molecular response and/or possible development of resistance. The aim of this review is to discuss the importance of adherence, and the possible tools that we have to measure it, to improve our knowledge on possible underlying causes of non-adherence and the impact of non-adherence on hospitalization risk and healthcare cost through a systematic review of the data published to date.
ISSN:0304-3835
1872-7980
DOI:10.1016/j.canlet.2010.10.018