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Reply to ‘Does post-transplant treatment with imatinib mesylate inhibit graft-versus-leukemia?’ by Chunduri et al

Leukemia volume 19, page 457 (2005)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

The clinical case described by Chunduri et al highlights the importance of monitoring T-cell responses in vivo in patients treated with imatinib. The authors report the donor cell chimerism, minimal residual disease detected by BCR-ABL and clinical course in a patient who received allogeneic PBSCT from an HLA-matched sibling.1 The patient had achieved only a minor cytogenetic response to imatinib prior to allograft and no improvement in donor cell chimerism or BCR-ABL transcript levels were observed with imatinib commenced 8 months post-transplant. Furthermore, within a month of cessation of imatinib relapse was observed at the cytogeneic level, and an associated significant reduction in donor cell chimerism was observed. Complete donor chimerism and molecular remission were detected only after DLI. It remains unclear whether imatinib does abrogate a graft-versus-leukaemia effect, but such observations support our findings,2 and those of another group,3 that imatinib inhibits T-cell responses in vitro. Further studies to assess the effect of imatinib on T-cell responses in vivo are warranted.

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References

  1. Chunduri S, Dobogai LC, Bruno A, Kadkol S, Rondelli D . Does posttransplant treatment with imatinib mesylate inhibit graft-versus-leukemia? Leukemia 2005; 19: 456–457.

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  2. Cwynarski K, Laylor R, Macchiarulo E, Goldman J, Lombardi G, Melo JV et al. Imatinib inhibits the activation and proliferation of normal T lymphocytes in vitro. Leukaemia 2004; 18: 1332–1339.

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  3. Dietz AB, Souan L, Knutson GJ, Bulur PA, Litzow MR, Vuk-Pavlovic S . Imatinib mesylate inhibits T cell proliferation in vitro and delayed-type hypersensitivity in vivo. Blood 2004; 104: 1094–1099.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Haematology, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

    K Cwynarski

  2. Department of Haematology, Imperial College, London, UK

    J V Melo

  3. Department of Immunology, Imperial College, London, UK

    F Dazzi

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  1. K Cwynarski
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  2. J V Melo
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  3. F Dazzi
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Correspondence to K Cwynarski.

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Cwynarski, K., Melo, J. & Dazzi, F. Reply to ‘Does post-transplant treatment with imatinib mesylate inhibit graft-versus-leukemia?’ by Chunduri et al. Leukemia 19, 457 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403658

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