Español
PDFs by language
Our 24/7 cancer helpline provides information and answers for people dealing with cancer. We can connect you with trained cancer information specialists who will answer questions about a cancer diagnosis and provide guidance and a compassionate ear.
Chat live online
Select the Live Chat button at the bottom of the page
Our highly trained specialists are available 24/7 via phone and on weekdays can assist through online chat. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. Some of the topics we can assist with include:
For medical questions, we encourage you to review our information with your doctor.
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is being studied in labs and in clinical trials around the world.
Scientists are making great progress in understanding how changes in a person's DNA can cause normal bone marrow cells to develop into CML cells. Learning about changes in the genes (regions of the DNA) involved in CML is providing insight into why these cells grow too quickly, live too long, and fail to develop into normal blood cells. The explosion of knowledge in recent years is being used to develop many new drugs.
Researchers are looking closely at how specific gene changes could be used to determine treatment, predict disease progression, and develop other drugs to treat CML.
Imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, and other tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) drugs that target the BCR-ABL protein have proven to work very well, but by themselves these drugs don't help everyone. Studies are now looking at the effects of using higher doses of TKIs, and to see if combining these drugs with other treatments, such as chemotherapy or interferon might be better than either one alone.
Because TKIs have drastically changed the treatment and outcomes of CML, an exciting area of research is looking at whether TKI treatment can be stopped. Clinical trials are being done to see if this is possible and what should be done if the CML comes back. This has also led scientists to look for better ways to define molecular remission in an effort to help make decisions about stopping treatment.
Because researchers know a main cause of CML is the BCR-ABL gene and its protein, they've been able to develop many new drugs that might work against it. Still, these drugs don't always work, and CML can become resistant to TKIs over time. Scientists continue to look for new drugs to treat CML, especially CML that no longer responds to TKIs.
In some people, CML cells develop a change in the BCR-ABL oncogene known as a T315I mutation, which makes them resistant to many of the TKI drugs used today. Ponatinib is the only TKI that can work against T315I mutant cells. More drugs aimed at this mutation are now being tested.
Many other kinds of drugs are also being tested in clinical trials, such as immunotherapy drugs. These are given along with TKIs in hopes of getting a better response than is seen with TKIs alone.
Cancer cells are different from normal cells, so it's sometimes possible to get the body's immune system to react against them. One way to do this is to use a cancer vaccine -- a substance injected into the body that boosts the immune system and causes it to attack certain cells. Several vaccines are now being studied for use against CML, but more research is needed.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Gong Z, Wang W, Hu S. Cytogenetic alterations in CML: not all created equal. Oncotarget. 2018;9(15):11885-11886.
Jabbour E, Kantarjian H. Chronic myeloid leukemia: 2018 update on diagnosis, therapy and monitoring. Am J Hematol. 2018;93(3):442-459.
Kavanagh S, Nee A, Lipton JH. Emerging alternatives to tyrosine kinase inhibitors for treating chronic myeloid leukemia. Expert Opin Emerg Drugs. 2018;23(1):51-62.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Version 4.2018 -- January 24, 2018. Accessed at www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/cml.pdf on May 16, 2018.
Saikia T. The Cure of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Are We There Yet? Curr Onc Rpts. 2018;20(12):1-8.
Last Revised: June 19, 2018
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
Sign up to stay up-to-date with news, valuable information, and ways to get involved with the American Cancer Society.
If this was helpful, donate to help fund patient support services, research, and cancer content updates.