Key clinical point: Late relapses do occur after tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discontinuation in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP) in treatment-free remission (TFR) at 36 months, with molecular response (MR) status at 36 months being highly predictive of subsequent molecular relapse.
Major finding: During a follow-up of 72 months, 10.8% of patients in TFR at 36 months lost major MR. Not being in MR4 at 36 months of TKI discontinuation was associated with an 85% higher risk of molecular relapse during the subsequent 3 years.
Study details : Findings are from the 6-year follow-up (AFTER-SKI) of 111 patients with CML-CP who were in TFR at 36 months after TKI discontinuation from the EURO-SKI trial.
Disclosures: This study was funded by Lund University and Skane University Hospital. U Olsson-Strömberg, P Koskenvesa, and D Žáčková reported consulting for, being on speaker’s and advisory boards, or receiving honoraria from various pharmaceutical companies. The remaining authors had no disclosures.
Source: Richter J et al. Leukemia. 2021 Feb 15. doi: 10.1038/s41375-021-01173-w .