Clonal chromosomal aberrations in Philadelphia negative cells such as monosomy 7 and trisomy 8 may persist for years with no impact on the long term outcome in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

The appearance of clonal chromosomal aberrations in Philadelphia negative cells (CCA/Ph) during the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was recently confirmed. Importance of these findings has not been clearly defined. We present data on the time of appearance, persistence, size of the CCA/Ph clone in terms of drugs used and hematological, cytogenetic and molecular response rates. The focus was on the peripheral blood cytopenias and myelodysplastic changes in the bone marrow microscopic evaluation. In 5 out of 155 (3,2%) CML patients, the persistent presence (up to nine years) of CCA/Ph was found (monosomy 7 and trisomy 8 in unrelated clones in two patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors; trisomy 8 in two patients on imatinib; trisomy 21 in one patient on interferon alfa treatment). Aberrations were present in median 24% Ph-cells in 3-15 subsequent analyses at different cytogenetic and molecular response time points. No evident myelodysplastic changes nor transformation to MDS/AML occurred in patients with CCA/Ph. All the patients achieved major molecular response (MMR). It seems that CCA/Ph presence does not affect the long term outcome in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Further complex monitoring of the CML patients with CCA/Ph is still needed.