Skip to main content
Top

17-11-2015 | Hematologic cancers | Article

Allogeneic transplantation for CML in the TKI era: striking the right balance

Authors: Andrew J. Innes, Dragana Milojkovic, Jane F. Apperley

Abstract

The management of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) has changed extensively over the past 15 years. Prior to the development of targeted therapies and in the absence of allogeneic haematopoetic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT), the median survival was 5–7 years. HSCT was quickly established as the standard of care for eligible patients through the 1980s and 1990s, when considerable advances were made in the optimization of conditioning regimens and supportive care. Exploiting a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of CML, the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the late 1990s revolutionized the management of the disease. TKIs offer the prospect of long-term disease control with a simple oral therapy, and are the first-line treatment in the 21st century. The majority of patients treated with TKIs achieve excellent responses with sustained treatment, and some even continue to have undetectable or exceptionally low level disease upon TKI withdrawal; however, for an almost equal number of patients, an adequate response cannot be achieved with any of the currently available TKIs. For those patients who fail to respond adequately to TKIs, HSCT offers the best prospect of long-term survival.

Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2016; 13: 79û91. doi:10.1038/nrclinonc.2015.193

Subject terms: Chemotherapy • Chronic myeloid leukaemia • Targeted therapies • Transplantation

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a clonal haematopoetic stem-cell disorder that is characterized by the presence of the oncogenic BCR–ABL1 gene fusion. The reciprocal translocation of the long arms of chromosome 9 and chromosome 22 was named the 'Philadelphia chromosome' following its place of discovery in the early 1960s1. The translocation positions ABL1 next to the breakpoint cluster region (BCR) gene and, depending on the exact breakpoint location, the fused BCR–ABL1 oncogene is translated into a protein of 185–210 kDa; there are three clinically important variants of this protein, p190, p210 and p230, with the p210 variant being typical of CML2, 3. The mutant Bcr–Abl1 protein is a dysregulated non-receptor tyrosine kinase that phosphorylates a variety of substrate proteins, resulting in loss of cell-cycle control with consequential increased proliferation, loss of stromal adhesion and resistance to apoptosis.

Literature
  1. Rowley, J. D. A new consistent chromosomal abnormality in chronic myelogenous leukaemia identified by quinacrine fluorescence and Giemsa staining. Nature 243, 290–293 (1973). CASISIPubMedArticle
  2. Shtivelman, E., Lifshitz, B., Gale, R. P. & Canaani, E. Fused transcript of abl and bcr genes in chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Nature 315, 550–554 (1985). CASISIPubMedArticle
  3. Voncken, J. W. et al. BCR/ABL P210 and P190 cause distinct leukemia in transgenic mice. Blood 86, 4603–4611 (1995). CASISIPubMed
  4. Swerdlow, S. H. et al. in WHO Classification of Tumours 4th edn Vol. 2 No. 2 (World Health Organization, 2008). 
  5. Baccarani, M. et al. Evolving concepts in the management of chronic myeloid leukemia: recommendations from an expert panel on behalf of the European LeukemiaNet. Blood 108, 1809–1820 (2006). CASISIPubMedArticle
  6. Hermans, A. et al. Unique fusion of bcr and c-abl genes in Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cell 51, 33–40 (1987). CASISIPubMedArticle
  7. Guilhot, F. et al. Interferon alfa-2b combined with cytarabine versus interferon alone in chronic myelogenous leukemia. French Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Study Group. N. Engl. J. Med. 337, 223–229 (1997). CASISIPubMedArticle
  8. Gratwohl, A. et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia in Europe 2006: transplant activity, long-term data and current results. An analysis by the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). Haematologica 91, 513–521 (2006). ISIPubMed
  9. Gratwohl, A. & Heim, D. Current role of stem cell transplantation in chronic myeloid leukaemia. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Haematol. 22, 431–443 (2009). ISIPubMedArticle
  10. Saussele, S. et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo SCT) for chronic myeloid leukemia in the imatinib era: evaluation of its impact within a subgroup of the randomized German CML Study IV. Blood 115, 1880–1885 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  11. Pavlu, J., Szydlo, R. M., Goldman, J. M. & Apperley, J. F. Three decades of transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia: what have we learned? Blood 117, 755–763 (2011). CASISIPubMedArticle
  12. Deininger M. et al. International randomized study of interferon vs STI571 (IRIS) 8-year follow up: sustained survival and low risk for progression or events in patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase treated with imatinib [abstract 1126]. Blood 114, a1126 (2009).
  13. Sasaki, K., Strom, S. & O'Brien, S. Relative survival in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia in the tyrosine-kinase inhibitor era: analysis of patient data from six prospective clinical trials. Lancet Haem. 2, 186–193 (2015). Article
  14. Mahon, F. X. et al. Discontinuation of imatinib in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia who have maintained complete molecular remission for at least 2 years: the prospective, multicentre Stop Imatinib (STIM) trial. Lancet Oncol. 11, 1029–1035 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  15. Ross, D. M. et al. Safety and efficacy of imatinib cessation for CML patients with stable undetectable minimal residual disease: results from the TWISTER study. Blood 122, 515–522 (2013). CASISIPubMedArticle
  16. Socié, G. et al. Nonmalignant late effects after allogeneic stem cell transplantation Blood. 101, 3373–3385 (2003). CASISIPubMedArticle
  17. Duell, T. et al. Health and functional status of long-term survivors of bone marrow transplantation. Ann. Intern. Med. 126, 184–192 (1997). CASISIPubMedArticle
  18. Simon, W., Segel, G. B. & Lichtman, M. A. Early allogeneic stem cell transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia in the imatinib era: a preliminary assessment. Blood Cells Mol. Dis. 37, 116–124 (2006). CASPubMedArticle
  19. Baccarani, M. et al. European LeukemiaNet recommendations for the management of chronic myeloid leukemia: 2013. Blood 122, 872–884 (2013). CASISIPubMedArticle
  20. Hanfstein, B. et al. Early molecular and cytogenetic response is predictive for long-term progression-free and overall survival in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Leukemia 26, 2096–2102 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  21. Marin, D. et al. Assessment of BCR-ABL1 transcript levels at 3 months is the only requirement for predicting outcome for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. J. Clin. Oncol. 30, 232–238 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  22. Fefer, A. et al. Disappearance of Ph1-positive cells in four patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia after chemotherapy, irradiation and marrow transplantation from an identical twin. N. Engl. J. Med. 300, 333–337 (1979). CASISIPubMedArticle
  23. Goldman, J. M. et al. Marrow transplantation for patients in the chronic phase of chronic granulocytic leukaemia. Lancet 320, 623–625 (1982). Article
  24. Beatty, P. G., Ash, R., Hows, J. M. & McGlave, P. B. The use of unrelated bone marrow donors in the treatment of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia: experience of four marrow transplant centers. Bone Marrow Transplant. 4, 287–290 (1989). CASISIPubMed
  25. Goldman, J. M. & Mackinnon, S. Bone marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia using matched unrelated donors. Bone Marrow Transplant. 4 (Suppl.), 38–39 (1989).
  26. Apperley, J. F. et al. Bone marrow transplantation for patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia: T-cell depletion with Campath-1 reduces the incidence of graft-versus-host disease but may increase the risk of leukaemic relapse. Bone Marrow Transplant. 1, 53–66 (1986). CASISIPubMed
  27. Kolb, H. J. et al. Donor leukocyte transfusions for treatment of recurrent chronic myelogenous leukemia in marrow transplant patients. Blood 76, 2462–2465 (1990). CASISIPubMed
  28. Mackinnon, S. et al. Adoptive immunotherapy evaluating escalating doses of donor leukocytes for relapse of chronic myeloid leukemia after bone marrow transplantation: separation of graft-versus-leukemia responses from graft-versus-host disease. Blood 86, 1261–1268 (1995). CASISIPubMed
  29. Dazzi, F. et al. Comparison of single-dose and escalating-dose regimens of donor lymphocyte infusion for relapse after allografting for chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 95, 67–71 (2000). CASISIPubMed
  30. Innes, A. J. et al. Escalating-dose HLA-mismatched DLI is safe for the treatment of leukaemia relapse following alemtuzumab-based myeloablative allo-SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant. 48, 1324–1328 (2013). CASPubMedArticle
  31. Or, R. et al. Nonmyeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia in first chronic phase. Blood 101, 441–445 (2003). CASISIPubMedArticle
  32. Crawley, C. et al. Outcomes of reduced-intensity transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia: an analysis of prognostic factors from the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the EBMT. Blood 106, 2969–29676 (2005). CASISIPubMedArticle
  33. Kebriaei, P. et al. Long-term follow-up of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation with reduced-intensity conditioning for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 110, 3456–3462 (2007). CASISIPubMedArticle
  34. Gratwohl, A. et al. Risk assessment for patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia before allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation. Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Lancet 352, 1087–1092 (1998). CASISIPubMedArticle
  35. Gratwohl, A. et al. Risk score for outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a retrospective analysis. Cancer 115, 4715–4726 (2009). ISIPubMedArticle
  36. Gratwohl, A., Goldman, J., Gluckman, E. & Zwaan, F. Effect of splenectomy before bone-marrow transplantation on survival in chronic granulocytic leukaemia. Lancet 326, 1290–1291 (1985). Article
  37. Lin, F., van Rhee, F., Goldman, J. M. & Cross, N. C. Kinetics of increasing BCR-ABL transcript numbers in chronic myeloid leukemia patients who relapse after bone marrow transplantation. Blood 87, 4473–4478 (1996). CASISIPubMed
  38. Olavarria, E. et al. Early detection of BCR-ABL transcripts by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction predicts outcome after allogeneic stem cell transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 97, 1560–1565 (2001). CASISIPubMedArticle
  39. Hehlmann, R. How I treat CML blast crisis. Blood 120, 737–747 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  40. Silver, R. T. The blast phase of chronic myeloid leukaemia. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Haematol. 22, 387–394 (2009). Article
  41. Kantarjian, H. M. et al. Imatinib mesylate (STI571) therapy for Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast phase. Blood 99, 3547–53 (2002). CASISIPubMedArticle
  42. Wadhwa, J. et al. Factors affecting duration of survival after onset of blastic transformation of chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 99, 2304–2309 (2002). CASISIPubMedArticle
  43. Fruehauf, S. et al. Imatinib combined with mitoxantrone/etoposide and cytarabine is an effective induction therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in myeloid blast crisis. Cancer 109, 1543–1549 (2007). CASPubMedArticle
  44. Oki, Y. et al. Phase II study of low-dose decitabine in combination with imatinib mesylate in patients with accelerated or myeloid blastic phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Cancer 109, 899–906 (2007). CASPubMedArticle
  45. Milojkovic, D. et al. Efficacy of combining dasatinib and FLAG-IDA for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in blastic transformation. Haematologica 97, 473–474 (2012). CASPubMedArticle
  46. Khoury, H. J. et al. Prognostic factors for outcomes in allogeneic transplantation for CML in the imatinib era: a CIBMTR analysis. Bone Marrow Transplant. 47, 810–816 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  47. Koreth, J. et al. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission: systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective clinical trials. JAMA 301, 2349–2361 (2009). CASISIPubMedArticle
  48. Gupta, V. et al. Comparable survival after HLA-well-matched unrelated or matched sibling donor transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia in first remission with unfavorable cytogenetics at diagnosis. Blood 116, 1839–1848 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  49. Jiang, Q. et al. Imatinib mesylate versus allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in the accelerated phase. Blood 117, 3032–3040 (2011). CASPubMedArticle
  50. Ohanian, M. et al. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors as initial therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in accelerated phase. Clin. Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 14, 155–162 (2014). PubMedArticle
  51. Cortes, J. E. et al. Four-year (yr) follow-up of patients (pts) with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) receiving dasatinib or imatinib: efficacy based on early response [abstract 653]. Blood 122, a653 (2013).
  52. Saglio, G. et al. ENESTnd Update: nilotinib (NIL) vs imatinib (IM) in patients (pts) with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) and the impact of early molecular response (EMR) and Sokal risk at diagnosis on long-term outcomes [abstract 632]. Blood 122, a632 (2013).
  53. Shah, N. P. et al. Long-term outcome with dasatinib after imatinib failure in chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia: follow-up of a phase 3 study. Blood 123, 2317–2324 (2014). CASPubMedArticle
  54. Giles, F. J. et al. Nilotinib in imatinib-resistant or imatinib-intolerant patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase: 48-month follow-up results of a phase II study. Leukemia 27, 107–112 (2013). CASISIPubMedArticle
  55. Ibrahim, A. R. et al. Efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as third-line therapy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase who have failed 2 prior lines of TKI therapy. Blood 116, 5497–5500 (2010). CASPubMedArticle
  56. Russo Rossi, A. et al. Outcome of 82 chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with nilotinib or dasatinib after failure of two prior tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Haematologica 98, 399–403 (2013). CASPubMedArticle
  57. Lipton, J. H. et al. Comparative efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatments in the third-line setting, for chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia after failure of second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Leuk. Res. 39, 58–64 (2015). CASPubMedArticle
  58. Milojkovic, D. et al. Early prediction of success or failure of treatment with second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Haematologica 95, 224–231 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  59. Cortes, J. E. et al. A phase 2 trial of ponatinib in Philadelphia chromosome-positive leukemias. N. Engl. J. Med. 369, 1783–1796 (2013). CASISIPubMedArticle
  60. Zaucha, J. M. et al. Imatinib therapy prior to myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 36, 417–424 (2005). CASISIPubMedArticle
  61. Deininger, M. et al. The effect of prior exposure to imatinib on transplant-related mortality. Haematologica 91, 452–459 (2006). CASISIPubMed
  62. Lee, S. J. et al. Impact of prior imatinib mesylate on the outcome of hematopoietic cell transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 112, 3500–3507 (2008). CASISIPubMedArticle
  63. Milojkovic, D. et al. Prognostic significance of EBMT score for chronic myeloid leukaemia patients in the era of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy: a retrospective study from the chronic malignancy working party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) [abstract PH0064]. Bone Marrow Transplant. 49, S6–S88 (2014) Article
  64. Krejci, M. et al. Clinical outcomes and direct hospital costs of reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation in chronic myeloid leukemia. Bone Marrow Transplant. 38, 483–491 (2006). CASPubMedArticle
  65. Jabbour, E. et al. Early response with dasatinib or imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia: 3-year follow-up from a randomized phase 3 trial (DASISION). Blood 123, 494–500 (2014). CASPubMedArticle
  66. Saglio, G. et al. Nilotinib versus imatinib for newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia. N. Engl. J. Med. 362, 2251–2259 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  67. Marin, D. et al. Adherence is the critical factor for achieving molecular responses in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who achieve complete cytogenetic responses on imatinib. J. Clin. Oncol. 28, 2381–2318 (2010). CASISIPubMedArticle
  68. Eliasson, L., Clifford, S., Barber, N. & Marin, D. Exploring chronic myeloid leukemia patients' reasons for not adhering to the oral anticancer drug imatinib as prescribed. Leuk. Res. 35, 626–630 (2011). PubMedArticle
  69. Socié, G. et al. Chronic graft-versus-host disease: long-term results from a randomized trial on graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis with or without anti-T-cell globulin ATG-Fresenius. Blood 117, 6375–6382 (2011). CASISIPubMedArticle
  70. Eapen, M. et al. Long-term survival after transplantation of unrelated donor peripheral blood or bone marrow hematopoietic cells for hematologic malignancy. Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant. 21, 55–59 (2015). PubMedArticle
  71. Anasetti, C. et al. Peripheral-blood stem cells versus bone marrow from unrelated donors. N. Engl. J. Med. 367, 1487–1496 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  72. Kaeda, J. et al. Serial measurement of BCR-ABL transcripts in the peripheral blood after allogeneic stem cell transplantation for chronic myeloid leukemia: an attempt to define patients who may not require further therapy. Blood 107, 4171–4176 (2006). CASISIPubMedArticle
  73. Innes, A. J. et al. The majority of patients receiving donor lymphocyte infusions for relapsed chronic myeloid leukemia remain PCR positive despite maintaining long-term remission [abstract 4103]. Blood 118, a4103 (2011).
  74. Luo, Y. et al. Reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation combined with imatinib mesylate for chronic myeloid leukemia in first chronic phase. Leukemia 23, 1171–1174 (2009). CASISIPubMedArticle
  75. Liu, Q. F. et al. Long-term outcomes of HLA-matched sibling compared with mismatched related and unrelated donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia: a single institution experience in China. Ann. Hematol. 90, 331–341 (2011). PubMedArticle
  76. Zheng, C. et al. Comparison of unrelated cord blood transplantation and HLA-matched sibling hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in advanced stage. Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant. 19, 1708–1712 (2013). CASPubMedArticle
  77. Shimoni, A. et al. Prior treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors dasatinib and nilotinib allows stem cell transplantation (SCT) in a less advanced disease phase and does not increase SCT Toxicity in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and philadelphia positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 23, 190–194 (2009). CASISIPubMedArticle
  78. Sanz, J. et al. Single-unit umbilical cord blood transplantation from unrelated donors in adult patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant. 16, 1589–1595 (2010). ISIPubMedArticle
  79. Jabbour, E. et al. Results of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia patients who failed tyrosine kinase inhibitors after developing BCR-ABL1 kinase domain mutations. Blood 117, 3641–3647 (2011). CASPubMedArticle
  80. Warlick, E. et al. Reduced intensity conditioning is superior to nonmyeloablative conditioning for older chronic myelogenous leukemia patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplant during the tyrosine kinase inhibitor era. Blood 119, 4083–4090 (2012). CASISIPubMedArticle
  81. Topcuoglu, P. et al. Case-matched comparison with standard versus reduced intensity conditioning regimen in chronic myeloid leukemia patients. Ann. Hematol. 91, 577–586 (2012). ISIPubMedArticle
  82. Zuckerman, T. et al. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia: risk stratified approach with a long-term follow-up. Am. J. Hematol. 87, 875–879 (2012). PubMedArticle
  83. Oyekunle, A. et al. Outcome of allogeneic SCT in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in the era of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Ann. Hematol. 92, 487–496 (2013). CASPubMedArticle
  84. Kelemen, E., Masszi, T., Reményi, P., Barta, A. & Pálóczi, K. Reduction in the frequency of transplant-related complications in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia undergoing BMT preconditioned with a new, non-myeloablative drug combination. Bone Marrow Transplant. 21, 747–749 (1998). CASPubMedArticle
  85. Barta, A. et al. Remarkably reduced transplant-related complications by dibromomannitol non-myeloablative conditioning before allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in chronic myeloid leukemia. Acta Haematol. 105, 64–70 (2001). CASISIPubMedArticle
  86. Weisser, M. et al. Reduced-intensity conditioning using TBI (8 Gy), fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and ATG in elderly CML patients provides excellent results especially when performed in the early course of the disease. Bone Marrow Transplant. 34, 1083–1088 (2004). CASISIPubMedArticle
  87. Kerbauy, F. R. et al. Hematopoietic cell transplantation from HLA-identical sibling donors after low-dose radiation-based conditioning for treatment of CML. Leukemia 19, 990–997 (2005). CASISIPubMedArticle
  88. Ruiz-Argüelles, G. J. et al. The early referral for reduced-intensity stem cell transplantation in patients with Ph1 (+) chronic myelogenous leukemia in chronic phase in the imatinib era: results of the Latin American Cooperative Oncohematology Group (LACOHG) prospective, multicenter study. Bone Marrow Transplant. 36, 1043–1047 (2005). CASISIPubMedArticle
  89. Faber, E. et al. Reduced-intensity conditioning for allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia is associated with better overall survival but inferior disease-free survival when compared with myeloablative conditioning–a retrospective study of the Czech National Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Registry. Neoplasma 54, 443–446 (2007). CASPubMed
  90. Olavarria, E. et al. Posttransplantation imatinib as a strategy to postpone the requirement for immunotherapy in patients undergoing reduced-intensity allografts for chronic myeloid leukemia. Blood 110, 4614–4617 (2007).