CMLSupport: IFN Can Be Halted After Prolonged Complete Remission in CML Patients

"Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them."
— Flannery O'Connor

IFN Can Be Halted After Prolonged Complete Remission in CML Patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 25, 2002 — Interferon alfa (IFN) treatment can be safely stopped after at least 2 years of complete cytogenetic remission in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Dr. Francois-Xavier Mahon, from Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, and associates report the finding in the January 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Whether IFN can be stopped in the small proportion of CML patients who achieve complete cytogenetic remission, defined as the disappearance of Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome-positive metaphases, has yet to be resolved, they note in the paper.

In comments to Reuters Health, Dr. Mahon said the fact that "some of our [CML] patients stopped IFN more than 10 years and seem to be cured" prompted them to take a closer look at this.

They found that relapse and survival were not statistically different for CML patients with complete remission of at least 2 years duration who stopped IFN compared with other CML patients in complete remission who continued IFN therapy.

Importantly, Dr. Mahon said, all patients who were in remission for less than 24 months when they stopped IFN relapsed. "It is possible to stop IFN in CML patients only after at least 2 years of complete cytogenetic remission or molecular remission," Dr. Mahon told Reuters Health.

The researchers say the data also suggest that "persistence of low numbers of Ph-positive cells does not necessarily imply hematologic relapse." For example, one patient "surprisingly" continued to have a low percentage of Ph-positive cells more than 6 years after stopping treatment, but remains in major cytogenetic remission.

J Clin Oncol 2002;20:214-220.

Source: Reuters Health

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