Nilotinib therapy after resistance and intolerance to imatinib in CML patient with trisomy of the chromosome 8

In this article is presented the case of a 30-year-old woman with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) treated with imatinib for 15 months, and then with nilotinib as second-line therapy. Two episodes of grade 3 neutropenia, the detection of the trisomy of chromosome 8 and the failed achievement of a major molecular response (MMolR) in 15 months led to the switch to nilotinib. With nilotinib the patient obtained the lack of the genetic anomaly in 3 months and a complete molecular response (CMolR) in 6 months, all confirmed at 9 months. No haematologic or extra-haematologic adverse events were detected with this second-line agent.