Jennifer A Woyach, Richard R Furman, Ta-Ming Liu, Hatice Gulcin Ozer, Marc Zapatka, Amy S Ruppert, Ling Xue, Daniel Hsieh-Hsin Li, Susanne M Steggerda, Matthias Versele, Sandeep S Dave, Jenny Zhang, Ayse Selen Yilmaz, Samantha M Jaglowski, Kristie A Blum, Arletta Lozanski, Gerard Lozanski, Danelle F James, Jacqueline C Barrientos, Peter Lichter, Stephan Stilgenbauer, Joseph J Buggy, Betty Y Chang, Amy J Johnson, John C Byrd
BACKGROUND: Ibrutinib is an irreversible inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and is effective in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Resistance to irreversible kinase inhibitors and resistance associated with BTK inhibition have not been characterized. Although only a small proportion of patients have had a relapse during ibrutinib therapy, an understanding of resistance mechanisms is important. We evaluated patients with relapsed disease to identify mutations that may mediate ibrutinib resistance...
June 12, 2014: New England Journal of Medicine