A combination of chemotherapy with dasatinib is effective in achieving long-term remission for patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph + ALL). This according to long-term follow-up of 72 patients treated with chemotherapy plus dasatinib. Researchers’ findings included:

• 96% of patients achieved complete remission (CR).

• Among those, 83% achieved cytogenetic CR after 1 cycle and 93% achieved a major molecular response at a median of 4 weeks.

• 94% of patients were negative for minimal residual disease assessed by flow cytometry at a median of 3 weeks.

• Dasatanib-related grade 3 and 4 adverse events included bleeding, pleural/pericardial effusions, and elevated transaminases.

• Median disease-free survival was 31 months.

• Median overall survival was 47 months.

• 7 relapsed patients had BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations, including 4 with T315I.

Citation: Ravandi D, O’Brien SM, Cortes JE, et al. Long-term follow-up of a phase 2 study of chemotherapy plus dasatinib for the initial treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [Published online ahead of print August 26, 2015]. Cancer. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29646.