Dasatinib–Blinatumomab for Ph-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Adults

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 383; no. 17; pp. 1613 - 1623
• Main Authors: Foà, Robin, Bassan, Renato, Vitale, Antonella, Elia, Loredana, Piciocchi, Alfonso, Puzzolo, Maria-Cristina, Canichella, Martina, Viero, Piera, Ferrara, Felicetto, Lunghi, Monia, Fabbiano, Francesco, Bonifacio, Massimiliano, Fracchiolla, Nicola, Di Bartolomeo, Paolo, Mancino, Alessandra, De Propris, Maria-Stefania, Vignetti, Marco, Guarini, Anna, Rambaldi, Alessandro, Chiaretti, Sabina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 22.10.2020
• Subjects: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Allografts; Antibodies, Bispecific - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - adverse effects; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Bone marrow; Cell death; Chemotherapy; Confidence intervals; Consolidation Chemotherapy; Dasatinib - administration & dosage; Design; Female; Gene expression; Glucocorticoids; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - adverse effects; Humans; Hypotheses; Induction Chemotherapy; Induction therapy; Kinases; Leukemia; Lymphatic leukemia; Lymphocytes; Male; Medical prognosis; Middle Aged; Minimal residual disease; Monoclonal antibodies; Mutation; Pax5 protein; Philadelphia Chromosome; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - drug therapy; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - genetics; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - mortality; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - therapy; Protein-tyrosine kinase; Proteins; Remission; Remission Induction; Survival Analysis; Targeted cancer therapy; Transplantation; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2016272

In patients who have acute lymphoblastic leukemia with tumor cells that bear the Philadelphia chromosome, traditional therapy is not very effective. The use of the ABL kinase inhibitor dasatinib to achieve remission, followed by the bifunctional antibody blinatumomab (which has both anti-CD3 and anti-CD19 specificity as maintenance therapy), led to complete remission in 98% of the patients.