Molecular genetics monitoring of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia

Therapy for Ph-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib results in achievement of high hematological and cytogenetic response rates. However, most patients with a complete cytogenetic response were found to have a minimal residual disease. Therefore the role of molecular monitoring during CML therapy has recently increased. Regular molecular monitoring allows to early diagnosis of relapse and improvement of treatment outcome as a result of therapeutic intervention. For the imatinib-treated patients therapy resistance or increased BCR-ABL gene expression is an indication for kinase domain mutations testing. Detection of the mutations causing imatinib resistance is required for therapy choice. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing should become customary for CML monitoring.