Prognosis in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: Baseline Factors, Dynamic Risk Assessment and Novel Insights

Abstract

The introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has changed the treatment paradigm of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), leading to a dramatic improvement of the outcome of CML patients, who now have a nearly normal life expectancy and, in some selected cases, the possibility of aiming for the more ambitious goal of treatment-free remission (TFR). However, the minority of patients who fail treatment and progress from chronic phase (CP) to accelerated phase (AP) and blast phase (BP) still have a relatively poor prognosis. The identification of predictive elements enabling a prompt recognition of patients at higher risk of progression still remains among the priorities in the field of CML management. Currently, the baseline risk is assessed using simple clinical and hematologic parameters, other than evaluating the presence of additional chromosomal abnormalities (ACAs), especially those at “high-risk”. Beyond the onset, a re-evaluation of the risk status is mandatory, monitoring the response to TKI treatment. Moreover, novel critical insights are emerging into the role of genomic factors, present at diagnosis or evolving on therapy. This review presents the current knowledge regarding prognostic factors in CML and their potential role for an improved risk classification and a subsequent enhancement of therapeutic decisions and disease management.