Study of correlation between imatinib mesylate plasma levels and hematological profile of patients undergoing treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia

Estudo da correlação entre os níveis plasmáticos de mesilato de imatinibe e o perfil hematológico de pacientes com leucemia mieloide crônica em tratamento

ABSTRACT

Introdution:

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a genetic disorder of hematopoietic stem cells, resulting in a myeloproliferative expansion of blood cells. CML is associated with the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph), generating an oncogene (BCR-ABL). The current treatment of choice is imatinib mesylate (IM).

Objective:

To correlate serum levels of MI with hematological parameters in patients with CML.

Method:

A retrospective cross-sectional study in patients treated for CML. Serum level of IM was determined by a high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD), and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0 software.

Results:

We studied 55 CML patients - 24 men (43.6%) and 31 women (56.4 %) - with a mean age of 54 years, who used IM. Among these, 45 patients were in the chronic phase (81.6 %); seven, in the accelerated phase (13.1%); and three, in the blast crisis (5.2%). Patients received a mean IM dose of 434 mg/day. Serum levels of the patients presented an average of 1,092 ± 617 ng/ml, and, in all, 47 patients (85.4%) had hematologic response (HR).

Conclusion:

There was no correlation between the number of leukocytes, platelets and hemoglobin and the serum level of IM, although there is a trend with respect to hemoglobin (p = 0.062).

Key words:
chronic myeloid leukemia; imatinib mesylate; tyrosine kinase inhibitor; treatment outcome