The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has received afive-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute to investigate the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in treating chronic myeloid leukemia.
Ehab Atallah, M.D., associate professor of medicine(hematology/oncology) at MCW, is the primary investigator of the grant. Dr. Atallah is a specialist in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes who sees patients at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center. Co-primary investigator is Kathryn Flynn Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in MCW’s Center for Patient Care & Outcomes Research (PCOR). They will collaborate with 11 other institutions in the nation on this project.
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a type of cancerstarting in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. The leukemia cells in this form of cancer build up over time and can invade almost any organ in the body. The American Cancer Society estimates about 6,000 cases of CML will emerge in the United States in 2014, resulting in 800 deaths. The prevalence of CML is projected to continue to rise in the United States.Treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI’s) havedramatically improved the survival of CML patients, leading to an increase in their use. However, extended TKI treatment is costly and there are also significant side effects. Small studiesconducted overseas suggest patients treated with TKI therapy will maintain the treatment’s response to the cancer even after discontinuing the therapy. However, not enough is known to conclusively understand the variables that go into this clinical practice.
In this project, Drs. Atallah and Flynn will investigate theeffect of discontinuing the treatment of patients with TKI. The study will discontinue TKI therapy for 170 willing and eligible CML patients and monitor them closely for 3 years. Ultimately, the study will elucidate factors associated with CML recurrence, describe patient-reported health status changes after TKI discontinuation and explore patient decision making regarding discontinuation with monitoring.
Partner institutions in this study are: University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern, Huntsman Cancer Institute at University of Utah, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Karmanos Cancer Institute of Wayne State University, Duke University Cancer Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center & Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Moffitt Cancer Center and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
