Factors predicting molecular and cytogenetic response in chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with imatinib.

We studied 94 clinically heterogeneous chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and found that the duration of treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) prior to imatinib therapy may not improve response to imatinib for patients in chronic phase but a shorter period between CML diagnosis and the initiation of imatinib is predictive for a better molecular response to therapy (p<0.05).