Emili Montserrat, Peter Dreger
The treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) whose tumor presents the del(17p)/TP53 mutation is a major challenge. Treatment with chemo(immuno)therapy, immunomodulators, or the anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody alemtuzumab produces transient, unsatisfactory responses. Reduced-intensity-conditioning allotransplantation produces sustained progression-free survival and overall survival (40%-60% at 5 years), equivalent to the cure of the disease, even in cases with adverse biomarkers. Unfortunately, despite improvements in this procedure, the non-relapse mortality continues to be high (15%-30%), and only highly selected patients (young, physically fit, with treatment-sensitive disease, not heavily pretreated, and with a fully matched donor) may benefit from the intervention without incurring unacceptable treatment-related risks...
August 2016: Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia