Key clinical point: BCR-ABL1 transcript doubling time (DT) at 2 months was strongly associated with treatment-free remission (TFR) failure after imatinib discontinuation in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP).
Major finding: The molecular recurrence-free survival at 12 months was 5.0% in patients in the high-risk (DT at 2 months, <12.75 days) vs. 47.2% in the intermediate-risk (DT at 2 months, ≥12.75 days) and 90.1% in the low-risk (DT at 2 months, 0 or less) groups ( P < .001). DT at 2 months determined high-risk (hazard ratio [HR] 8.062; P = .0006) and low-risk (HR 0.196; P = .0110) groups for TFR failure.
Study details: This study assessed 131 patients with CML-CP in the imatinib discontinuation phase enrolled in the TRAD study.
Disclosures: This study was supported by BMS Canada and partly by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. The lead author reported a research grant from the BMS and Novartis.
Source: Kim DDH et al. Br J Haematol. 2021 Sep 8. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17807