[Hematologic and molecular response with dasatinib as second-line treatment in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with...

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a myeloproliferative disease characterized by the Philadelphia chromosome and with this, the chimeric protein BCR-ABL. The first-line treatment is imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, that has showed good results, but with a significant percentage of treatment failure. This failure has led to second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors as second-line treatment such as dasatinib.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of dasatinib as second-line treatment.

Observational, longitudinal, and retrospective study. Patients with diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia that presented failure to first-line treatment were included in the present study; the hematologic response was evaluated at 3, 6, and 12 months, and molecular response at 12 months of follow-up after dasatinib treatment was started.

Of a total of 14 patients that were included in the study, a response in the white cell count of 84.6% with a mean response at 4.7 months of follow-up was observed; also 84.6% platelet response with a mean response at 4.7 months of follow-up. Molecular response was also evaluated at a 12-month follow-up, achieving a 50% response with a mean response at 11.08 months of follow-up. A survival rate of 80% at a 12-month follow-up was observed.

The use of dasatinib as a second-line treatment is effective in achieving a sustained hematologic response of 84.6% and a molecular response in 50%, also finding a hematologic response without achieving a total molecular response.