Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

The clinical course of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is highly variable, and a subset of patients may never need clinical intervention. However, most patients will eventually require treatment during their disease.

Susan O’Brien, MD,  discusses the tremendous impact that has been seen with ibrutinib following the long-term follow-up of the RESONATE studies and highlights where this regimen is headed in the future of treatment for patients with CLL.

Based on improved insight into chronic lymphocytic leukemia biology and pathophysiology, approaches to identify patients who are at higher risk for disease progression have been refined, as have strategies to select therapies that maximize treatment outcomes due to their selectivity for distinctive phenotypic or physiological features of the respective CLL cells.

Matthew S. Davids, MD, sheds light on the significant findings of this study and gave a look ahead to ibrutinib combination therapies in the future treatment landscape of CLL.

Prospects for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia have improved with the use of targeted agents such as ibrutinib; however, complete remissions are rare, and treatment options for patients relapsing after treatment with ibrutinib remain limited.

Recent years have seen major advances in diagnostic approaches in CLL, and disease assessment may now include analysis of multiple genetic mutations in addition to recurrent cytogenetic changes. Furthermore, with the development of novel treatment approaches, the significance of prognostic markers is shifting.