Mobilization Of Ph-Negative Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (Pbscs) With Rhu-G-Csf In Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (Cml) Patients Achieving Complete Cytogenetic Response With Imatinib Mesilate (Glivec).

Imatinib Mesilate (Glivec) is able to induce a high rate of Complete Cytogenetic Response (CCyR) with low treatment-related toxicity. The long-term duration of this Ph-negative status is, however, still undefined. Therefore, some groups (Drummond et al, Br J Haematol 123:479, 2003; Hui et al, Leukemia 17:821, 2003) decided to mobilize and to collect Ph-negative PBSCs in patients reaching CCyR with Glivec. In our experience we studied 12 Ph-negative, FISH-negative patients, median age 50 yrs (26–61). Three of them were also PCR-negative, being the minimal residual disease assessed using RT-PCR. All patients received Imatinib Mesilate at the daily dose of 400 mg. The median duration of treatment with Glivec was 25 months (range 11–35). Eight of 12 pts (67%) were pre-treated with α-interferon (α-IFN) for a median time of 9.5 months (range 3–54). The median duration of CML was 39 months (range: 21–152).