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Safety and efficacy of imatinib in chronic eosinophilic leukaemia and hypereosinophilic syndrome – a phase‐II study
Author(s) -
Metzgeroth Georgia,
Walz Christoph,
Erben Philipp,
Popp Helena,
SchmittGraeff Annette,
Haferlach Claudia,
Fabarius Alice,
Schnittger Susanne,
Grimwade David,
Cross Nicholas C. P.,
Hehlmann Rüdiger,
Hochhaus Andreas,
Reiter Andreas
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2008.07294.x
Subject(s) - imatinib , hypereosinophilic syndrome , medicine , pdgfrb , pdgfra , imatinib mesylate , gastroenterology , eosinophilia , gist , stromal cell , biochemistry , myeloid leukemia , gene , chemistry
Summary This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of imatinib in chronic eosinophilic leukaemia (CEL, n = 23) and hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES, n = 13). In CEL with FIP1L1‐PDGFRA ( n = 16) or various PDGFRB fusion genes ( n = 5), complete haematological remission (CHR) was achieved in 95% (20/21) after 3 months. Complete molecular remission (CMR) was seen in 75% (12/16) of cases with FIP1L1‐PDGFRA positive CEL by 6 months, and in 87% (13/15) after 12 months. CMR was achieved in three of five PDGFRB fusion positive patients after 3, 9 and 18 months respectively. All patients are currently on imatinib (100 mg; n = 13, 400 mg; n = 8) and no molecular relapse has yet been observed (median 26·7 months; range, 6·9–39·9). Imatinib was less effective in HES and CEL without known molecular aberration ( n = 15); CHR was observed in 40% (6/15) of patients, two patients relapsed after 4·8 and 24·5 months. Three patients died due to imatinib‐resistant progressive CEL ( n = 2) or myocardial infarction ( n = 1) unrelated to study treatment. Overall, imatinib was well tolerated with a low incidence of grade III/IV toxicities. These data confirmed the long‐term efficacy of imatinib for PDGFR ‐rearranged CEL patients, and also showed that a minority of HES cases without known molecular aberrations may benefit from imatinib.