Is transplantation and chemotherapy still necessary for all patients with Ph+ ALL?
Robin Foà, MD, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, discusses whether transplantation and chemotherapy are necessary for all patients with Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), given advancements in immunotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). The GIMEMA LAL2116 (D-ALBA) study (NCT02744768) found favorable long-term survival in patients treated with dasatinib plus steroids and consolidated with blinatumomab, with transplantation only necessary for those who were measurable residual disease (MRD)-positive. The ongoing GIMEMA ALL2820 trial (NCT04722848) is comparing ponatinib and blinatumomab vs chemotherapy and imatinib in Ph+ ALL, aiming to define which patients require chemotherapy. This trial emphasizes CNS prophylaxis due to some CNS localization observed in the D-ALBA study. This interview took place at the 50th Annual Meeting of the EBMT in Glasgow, Scotland. These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copy