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Review
. 2023 Apr 6:14:261-277.
doi: 10.2147/JBM.S382090. eCollection 2023.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, from Pathophysiology to Treatment-Free Remission: A Narrative Literature Review

Ikhwan Rinaldi  1 , Kevin Winston  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, from Pathophysiology to Treatment-Free Remission: A Narrative Literature Review

Ikhwan Rinaldi et al. J Blood Med. .

Abstract

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is one of the most common leukemias occurring in the adult population. The course of CML is divided into three phases: the chronic phase, the acceleration phase, and the blast phase. Pathophysiology of CML revolves around Philadelphia chromosome that constitutively activate tyrosine kinase through BCR-ABL1 oncoprotein. In the era of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), CML patients now have a similar life expectancy to people without CML, and it is now very rare for CML patients to progress to the blast phase. Only a small proportion of CML patients have resistance to TKI, caused by BCR-ABL1 point mutations. CML patients with TKI resistance should be treated with second or third generation TKI, depending on the BCR-ABL1 mutation. Recently, many studies have shown that it is possible for CML patients who achieve a long-term deep molecular response to stop TKIs treatment and maintain remission. This review aimed to provide an overview of CML, including its pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, the role of stem cells, CML treatments, and treatment-free remission.

Keywords: chronic myeloid leukemia; remission; tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Type of blast phase in CML.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Known predictors of treatment-free remission.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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