Chronic myeloid leukemia

Richard T Silver1

  • 1Weill Cornell Medical College, 525 East 68th Street, Box 581, New York, NY 10021, USA. rtsilve@med.cornell.edu

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a clonal myeloproliferative disorder of a pluripotent stem cell with a specific cytogenetic abnormality, the Philadelphia chromosome, involving myeloid, erythroid, megakaryocytic, B lymphoid, and sometimes T lymphoid cells but not marrow fibroblasts. Advances in cell biology and molecular genetics and a plethora of biochemical, cytogenetic, and molecular data of clinical relevance have yielded much new information regarding this disease. This article reviews the hematologic and clinical aspects of chronic myeloid leukemia; discusses the pertinent aspects of the advances in understanding of the cytogenetics and molecular biology of the disease; and reviews treatment programs employing busulfan, hydroxyurea, interferon, and marrow transplantation, which still are clinically important and relevant despite the development of the exciting new drug imatinib mesylate, a new paradigm for cancer chemotherapy in general.