Dr. Sweet Discusses TKI Discontinuation in CML

Kendra Sweet, MD, an assistant member in the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses discontinuation of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Due to the success of TKIs in the treatment landscape of CML, investigators have been working toward a regimen that safely discontinues therapy in patients. Data over the last decade have supported the discontinuation of TKIs, and the high cure rate of patients with CML lends to the idea of stopping therapy to spare patients from unnecessary toxicities.

TKI discontinuation was first tested in 100 patients who were being treated with imatinib (Gleevec) in the Stop Imatinib (STIM) trial in 2007. The largest trial of TKI discontinuation to date is the EURO-SKI trial. This trial included 755 patients who used a TKI for at least 3 years and had a deep molecular response for at least 1 year. After treatment, molecular relapse-free survival was 61% at 6 months and 50% at 24 months.