[Imatinib in treatment of thrombocythemia and other myeloproliferative diseases]

Ling-Ling Shu1, Mo Yang

  • 1Department of Hematology, Nanfang Hospital, Sourthern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.

Imatinib mesylate has been commonly used in the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, a significant number of CML patients treated with imatinib developed thrombocytopenia, oligocythemia, granulocytopenia. It has been confirmed that imatinib not only inhibits BCR-ABL mutations, but also suppresses other tyrosine kinase receptor genes such as PDGFR, JAK2V617F and C-KIT mutations, providing an important potential of targeted therapy for myeloproliferative disease. As the PDGFR, JAK2 and C-KIT play important roles in the regulation of hematopoiesis, suggesting that imatinib may block the phosphorylation of PDGFR, JAK2V617F and C-KIT receptors, interrupt the signal transduction cascades, disrupt cell differentiation and proliferation. In this review, the application and the potential molecular mechanism of imatinib in the treatment of thrombocythemia and other myeloproliferative diseases are discussed.

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