Overcoming therapy failure in elderly patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

Abstract

SUMMARY  Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) affects mainly older adults, as median age at diagnosis is 60–65 years. For a long time, survival of elderly CML patients has been shorter compared with younger patients. With the advent of the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), imatinib, long-term outcome has significantly improved, including in the elderly, with rates of cytogenetic and molecular responses roughly equal to those attained in the young, as well as manageable toxicity. More recently, second-generation (dasatinib, nilotinib and bosutinib) and third-generation (ponatinib) TKIs were employed in CML patients failing imatinib or other front-line treatments. Despite a shorter follow-up, these TKIs showed remarkable activity in elderly patients. This review focuses on the therapeutic strategies to prevent and overcome treatment failure in elderly CML patients.