WALDENSTROM’S MACROGLOBULINEMIA: AN UPDATE

Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder with distinctive clinical features. Diagnostic and prognostic charactrization in WM significantly changed with the discovery of two molecular markers: MYD88 and CXCR4. Mutational status of these latter influences both clinical presentation and prognosis and demonstrated therapeutic implications. Treatment choice in Waldemstrom disease is strictly guided by patients age and characteristics, specific goals of therapy, necessity for rapid disease control, risk of treatment-related neuropathy, disease characteristics, risk of immunosuppression or secondary malignancies and potential for future autologous stem cell transplantation. Therapeutic landscape has expanded during the last years and the approval of ibrutinib, the first drug approved for Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, represents an important step forward for a better management of the disease.