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Adherence to the standard dose of imatinib, rather than dose adjustment based on its plasma concentration, is critical to achieve a deep molecular response in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

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Abstract

The correlation between imatinib (IM) trough plasma concentration (Cmin) and clinical response was assessed in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia. The Cmin correlated with neither the achievement of complete cytogenetic response (977 vs. 993 ng/ml, P = 0.48) nor a major molecular response (1,044 vs. 818 ng/ml, P = 0.17). Although this was significantly higher in patients with complete molecular response (CMR) than in those without (1,430 vs. 859 ng/ml, P = 0.04), the difference was not significant in the sub-population treated with a standard dose of IM (400 mg/day). Finally, multivariate analysis showed that the IM standard dose, but not Cmin, was predictive of the achievement of CMR. We thus suggest that, in practical clinics at least, adherence to the standard dose is the most important factor for the achievement of CMR.

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Acknowledgments

This study was at least in part supported by Novartis Pharma K.K.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, National Hospital Organization Mito Medical Center, Higashiibarakigun, Japan

    Chikashi Yoshida & Takuya Komeno

  2. Department of Hematology, Ibaraki Prefectural Central Hospital, Kasama, Japan

    Mitsuo Hori

  3. Division of Hematology, Suifu Hospital, Mito, Japan

    Tomofumi Kimura & Masami Fujii

  4. Department of Clinical and Experimental Hematology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Yasushi Okoshi, Kazumi Suzukawa, Shigeru Chiba, Yuichi Hasegawa & Harumi Yamamoto Mukai

  5. Department of Hematology, Toride Kyodo General Hospital, Toride, Japan

    Takayoshi Ito

  6. Department of Hematology, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital, Tsuchiura, Japan

    Seiichi Shimizu & Masaharu Kamoshita

  7. Department of Hematology, Hitachi General Hospital, Hitachi, Japan

    Daisuke Kudo, Atsushi Shinagawa, Norio Chikatsu & Yuriko Monma

  8. Watanabe Naika Clinic, Hitachinaka, Japan

    Norimichi Watanabe

  9. Department of Clinical Oncology, Ibaraki Prefectural Central Hospital, Kasama, Ibaraki, 309-1793, Japan

    Hiroshi Kojima

Authors
  1. Chikashi Yoshida
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  2. Takuya Komeno
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  3. Mitsuo Hori
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  4. Tomofumi Kimura
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  5. Masami Fujii
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  6. Yasushi Okoshi
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  7. Kazumi Suzukawa
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  8. Shigeru Chiba
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  9. Yuichi Hasegawa
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  10. Harumi Yamamoto Mukai
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  11. Takayoshi Ito
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  12. Seiichi Shimizu
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  13. Masaharu Kamoshita
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  14. Daisuke Kudo
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  15. Atsushi Shinagawa
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  16. Norio Chikatsu
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  17. Yuriko Monma
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  18. Norimichi Watanabe
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  19. Hiroshi Kojima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Kojima.

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Cite this article

Yoshida, C., Komeno, T., Hori, M. et al. Adherence to the standard dose of imatinib, rather than dose adjustment based on its plasma concentration, is critical to achieve a deep molecular response in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Int J Hematol 93, 618–623 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0838-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0838-3

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