Assessment of Large Granular Lymphocyte during Dasatinib Therapy and its Relation to Deep Molecular Response in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Author(s): Haiqing Wang, Shupei Ma

Objective: To compare the differences of deep molecular response (DMR) rate and time of obtaining DMR between dasatinib treated patients with increased and normal levels of large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) in newly diagnosed or imatinib resistant/intolerant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with positive BCR-ABL fusion gene. Methods: LGLs in peripheral blood were counted by flow cytometry and BCR-ABL fusion gene transcriptional level was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 25 CML patients before and 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 months after dasatinib treatment. The enrolled patients were classified into LGLs+ group and LGLs- group according to whether the LGL counts were increased or not. Results: Among the 25 patients investigated, LGLs in 15 cases (5/15, 60%) were increased. Five cases in LGL+ group obtained DMR (33.3%) which was significantly higher than that of LGL- group (33.3% vs 10 %, P < 0.05). The median time of obtaining DMR in LGLs+ group and LGLs- group were 12 and 15 months respectively. Conclusions: Increased LGLs can be used as an indicator of prognosis in CML patients with positive BCR-ABL fusion gene who treated with dasatinib.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Large Granular Lymphocyte, Dasatinib, Deep Molecular Response

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