Prospects for achieving treatment-free remission in chronic myeloid leukaemia

In addition to the best possible overall survival, discontinuation of the tyrosine kinase-inhibitor (TKI) treatment [treatment free remission (TFR)] without observing a recurrence of the disease has become a major goal of the therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Many clinical studies have demonstrated that TFR is possible, although for the moment limited to a fraction of the CML patients able to achieve a stable deep molecular response (DMR). The factors associated to the possibility of remaining in TFR or of losing it, have been investigated by a number of controlled and observation clinical trials and although total TKI treatment duration, DMR duration and stability and, more recently, also the depth of the molecular response obtained at the time of discontinuation have been shown to be significant elements, most of the factors associated with a higher possibility of a successful discontinuation still remain elusive and are here reviewed.