Search

Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who have failed conventional tyrosine kinase inhibitors (cTKIs) and asciminib constitute a complex group of patients with few therapeutic options. A retrospective descriptive multicenter observational study was carried out including patients with CML who had presented a therapeutic failure to ≥ 2 cTKIs and asciminib, and had received or were not candidates to ponatinib. Of the 19 patients enrolled, 8 patients failed asciminib due to intolerance and 11 due to resistance. The most common strategy for intolerant patients was to initiate a previously administered cTKI (6/8) with dose adjustments or symptomatic management of adverse events (AEs). Of the patients who failed due to resistance, only patients who underwent progenitor transplantation achieved profound long-term responses. A frequent strategy was to use ponatinib (4/11) in patients previously considered non-candidates, with poor responses in patients in whom dose reductions were used, and severe AEs in patients at standard doses. In the remaining patients, cTKIs and other agents (interferon, hydroxyurea, citarabine, busulfan) were used with poor responses. Patients who progressed to advanced stages had a dismal prognosis. With a median follow-up of 11.2 months, overall survival of the global cohort was 73%; 100% for intolerant patients, 71% for resistant patients and 25% for those who discontinue asciminib in accelerated/blastic phase., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The prognostic impact of the aberrant hypermethylation in response to azacytidine (AZA) remains to be determined. Therefore, we have analyzed the influence of the methylation status prior to AZA treatment on the overall survival and clinical response of myeloid malignancies. DNA methylation status of 24 tumor suppressor genes was analyzed by methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in 63 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia treated with azacytidine. Most patients (73 %) showed methylation of at least one gene, but only 12 % of patients displayed ≥3 methylated genes. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that the presence of a high number (≥2) of methylated genes (P = 0.022), a high WBC count (P = 0.033), or anemia (P = 0.029) were independent prognostic factors associated with shorter overall survival. The aberrant methylation status did not correlate with the response to AZA, although four of the five patients with ≥3 methylated genes did not respond. By contrast, favorable cytogenetics independently influenced the clinical response to AZA as 64.7 % of patients with good-risk cytogenetic abnormalities responded (P = 0.03). Aberrant methylation status influences the survival of patients treated with AZA, being shorter in those patients with a high number of methylated genes.