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Nilotinib is currently approved for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic (CP) and accelerated phase (AP) after failure of imatinib and in newly diagnosed patients. Atherosclerotic events were retrospectively reported in patients with baseline cardiovascular risk factors during nilotinib treatment. We estimated the risk of developing atherosclerotic events in patients treated with second or first-line nilotinib, with a median follow-up of 48 months, by retrospectively applying the SCORE chart proposed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and evaluating risk factors at baseline (diabetes, obesity, smoking, and hypertension). Overall, we enrolled in the study 82 CP patients treated frontline (42 CP patients at the dose of 600 mg BID) or after failure of other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (40 CP patients treated with 400 mg BID). The SCORE chart is based on the stratification of sex (male vs female), age (from 40 to 65 years), smoker vs non-smoker, systolic pressure (from 120 to 180 mm Hg), and cholesterol (measured in mmol/l, from 150 to 300 mg/dl). For statistical purposes, we considered patients subdivided in low, moderate, high (with a score >5), and very high risk. There were 48 males and 34 females, median age 51 years (range 22–84). According to WHO classification, 42 patients were classified as normal weight (BMI <25), 26 patients were overweight (BMI 26 ≤ 30), and 14 were obese (BMI >30). Retrospective classification according to the SCORE chart revealed that 27 patients (33 %) were in the low-risk category, 30 patients (36 %) in the moderate risk category, and 24 patients (29 %) in the high risk. As regards risk factors, we revealed that 17 patients (20.7 %) had a concomitant type II controlled diabetes (without organ damage), 23 patients (28 %) were smokers, 29 patients (35 %) were receiving concomitant drugs for hypertension, and 15 patients (18 %) had concomitant dyslipidemia. Overall, the cumulative incidence of atherosclerotic events at 48 months was 8.5 % (95 % CI, 4.55–14.07): None of the low-risk patients according to the SCORE chart experienced atherosclerotic events compared to 10 % in the moderate risk category and 29 % in the high risk ( p  = 0.002). Atherosclerotic-free survival was 100, 89, and 69 % in the low, moderate, and high-risk population, respectively ( p  = 0.001). SCORE chart evaluation at disease baseline could be a valid tool to identify patients at high risk of atherosclerotic events during nilotinib treatment.

Dasatinib is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor active against ABL and Src family kinases, and is approved for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in chronic, accelerated, or blast phase with resistance or intolerance to imatinib therapy, for newly diagnosed chronic phase patients, and for adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have become resistant to or intolerant of other treatments. This review presents clinical data regarding different trials involving CML patients in different phases of the disease. Six-year follow-up of the Phase III dose-optimization study are described, showing overall survival of 71% with the current approved dose of 100 mg once daily. Three-year results of the randomized Phase III DASISION (DASatinib vs Imatinib Study In Treatment-Naïve CML patients) trial confirmed that dasatinib 100 mg once daily was superior to standard-dose imatinib in terms of achieving a faster and deeper molecular response, with similar activity regardless of baseline prognostic score.

Transfusion dependence in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients may lead to organ damage due to accumulation of non-transferrin-bound iron with consequent increased oxidative stress. Iron chelation has been reported in retrospective studies to improve overall survival in low-risk MDS patients, but this information needs to be validated in prospective trials. The oral iron chelator, deferasirox, has been shown to reduce serum ferritin levels in chelation naïve and pre-treated patients and to reduce labile plasma iron, independently from the efficacy on iron overload. Deferasirox is a potent NF-kB inhibitor, tested in vivo and on acute myeloid leukemia and MDS cell lines, and this effect may explain in part the phenomenon of hematological improvements reported in case reports and in different clinical trials. The drug has an acceptable safety profile, with the most common side effects reported being non-progressive change in serum creatinine level, gastrointestinal disturbances, and skin rash. In this review, we report the results of different studies testing safety and efficacy of deferasirox in MDS patients, side effects associated with the drug, and suggested management of iron overload.

Dasatinib is an oral dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor active against ABL1 and SRC family kinases. The US FDA approved it for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in chronic, accelerated, or blastic phase with resistance or intolerance to imatinib therapy. Dasatinib is also indicated for the treatment of adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have become resistant to or intolerant of other treatments. The agent is now also approved for newly diagnosed chronic phase (CP) patients. This article reviews the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of dasatinib as well as clinical data limited to CP-CML patients. Four-year follow-up of a phase III dose-optimization trial confirmed that better progression-free survival (66%) and overall survival (82%) were obtained with a dose of 100 mg once daily (od) than with the standard 70 mg twice daily dosing (65% and 75%, respectively). The 100 mg od dosing schedule was also associated with the highest benefit-risk ratio for CP patients with resistant, intolerant, or suboptimal response. Recent results of a phase III trial in newly diagnosed patients demonstrated that dasatinib 100 mg od has superiority in terms of confirmed cytogenetic and molecular responses, with faster responses and high activity in high Sokal risk patients compared with standard-dose imatinib.

We prospectively tested, at diagnosis in essential thrombocythemia (ET) patients with no clear indication to platelet (PLT)-lowering treatment, a scoring system based on age, PLT level, cardiovascular diseases, previous thrombotic events, smoking and dysmetabolic diseases. From 04/92 to 03/98, 168 consecutive patients were enrolled. Hydroxyurea (HU) was started at diagnosis in 32 “symptomatic” patients and in 33 patients aged >70 years. The remaining 103 patients (“asymptomatic” and aged <70 years) were classified according to our scoring system. Thirty-two patients with score ≥4 started HU early after diagnosis. The remaining 71 patients with score <4 at diagnosis received anti-aggregating agents only; of them, 24 (33.8%) started HU during follow-up after a median time from diagnosis of 28 months, while 47 (66.2%) did not start any PLT-lowering treatment. Thrombotic complications occurred in 9/103 patients (8.7%); in particular, they occurred in 4/32 patients (12.5%) with score ≥4 receiving HU since diagnosis and in 5/71 (7%) with score <4 under anti-aggregating agents only. This scoring system appears effective to discriminate a different risk of thrombotic events, and could be useful to decide when a PLT-lowering therapy needs to be started.

The BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor imatinib mesylate is currently the standard therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Despite the remarkable results achieved with imatinib for the treatment of CML, the emergence of resistance to this drug has become a significant problem. Mutations within the ABL kinase domain have been identified as the main mechanism of resistance to imatinib. Other mechanisms include genomic amplification of BCR-ABL and modulation of drug efflux or influx transporters. Several strategies have been developed to overcome the problem of imatinib resistance, including dose escalation of imatinib, combination treatments, or novel targeted agents. Nilotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor 30-fold more potent than imatinib, active against a wide range of mutant clones, except T315I. Phase I-II trials of nilotinib showed high activity in imatinib-resistant CML and Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We here review the development of nilotinib and the activity of this agent in CML patients and in other forms of sensitive neoplasms.

Purpose The use of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) as an alternative to other central venous access devices (CVAD) is becoming very frequent in cancer patients. To evaluate the impact of complications associated to these devices in patients with hematologic malignancies, we revised the catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) and the catheter-related thrombotic complications (CRTC) observed at our institute between January 2009 and December 2012. Methods A total of 612 PICCs were inserted into 483 patients at diagnosis or in subsequent phases of their hematologic disease. PICCs were successfully inserted in all cases. The median duration of in situ PICC placement was 101 days (interquartile range, 48–184 days). Results A CRBSI occurred in 47 cases (7.7 %), with a rate of 0.59 per 1000 PICC days. A CRTC was recorded in 16 cases (2.6 %), with a rate of 0.20 per 1000 PICC days. No serious complication was associated to these events. Cox regression analyses of variables associated to CRBSIs and to CRTCs showed that only the type of disease (acute leukemia compared to other diseases) was significantly associated to a higher incidence of CRBSIs, while no feature was predictive for a higher risk of CRTCs. Conclusions PICCs represent a useful and safe alternative to conventional CVAD for the management of patients with hematologic malignancies.