In this video from OncLive, CLL Program Director, Dr. Richard Furman joins a panel of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) experts to discuss the use of a new prognostic index for patients with CLL and its impact on new therapies.
A full transcript of Dr. Furman’s comments are below:
I can’t agree enough with Dr. Kipps in the importance of being able to use in clinical practice helpful measures for our patients. And no matter what new prognostic factors we develop, and of course, CLL doesn’t really need any more prognostic factors, it’s really going to be dependent upon those classic criteria from the original IWCLL or NCI working groups, based upon progression of disease, Rai stage, and all those factors that are just clinically apparent that are going to determine when you’re going to initiate therapy.
And fortunately, with these new agents, the novel agents, the prognostic markers really don’t become relevant in terms of response to treatment. Where I really think the majority of effort needs to be in this day and age is going to be identifying those patients who are unlikely to be basically maintained on a BCR antagonist long-term.
There are some patients with 17p deletion or some other genetic abnormalities that might have or are likely to have progression on a BCR antagonist. And those are the prognostic markers that we need to identify because they’re the ones that are going to tell us that ibrutinib by itself is not going to be long-term the best option for this patient.
And I think likewise looking at the gene family 4-39 or notch 1 mutations, things that predict for Richter’s Transformation, which is often a mode of escape from the BCR antagonists, really become increasingly important. Because those are the things that really may indicate to us that we have to change our treatment strategy.
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