Management of chronic myeloid leukemia in myeloid blastic phase with novel therapies: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Introduction Chronic myeloid leukemia at myeloid blastic phase (CML-MBP) is a rapidly lethal illness, and its prognosis is dismal with standard therapy. As the clinical and histological characteristics of CML-MBP closely resemble acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the management of these two entities has historically gone hand in hand. The remarkable success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) for chronic phase CML significantly reduced the incidence of CML-MBP. Area covered We performed a systematic literature review to aggregate the clinical data of CML-MBP patients who have been treated with the new drugs approved for use in AML, including decitabine, azacytidine, venetoclax, omecetaxine, glasdegib, gemtuzumab, IDH, and FLT3 inhibitors. The literature review revealed 14 articles directly contributing relevant data. We analyzed them according to the type of regimen each studied. This review will highlight selected findings from these papers. Expert opinion Hypomethylating agent and TKI combination with or without the addition of venetoclax appear to be highly promising and have produced comparable outcomes with intensive chemotherapy and TKI combinations. Current evidence is insufficient to reach conclusions prompting dedicated research to improve the care of patients with CML-MBP.