• Stefano Molica.
• Department Hematology-Oncology, Azienda Ospedaliera Pugliese-Ciaccio, Viale Pio X, 88100, Catanzaro, Italy. smolica@libero.it.
• Bmc Med. 2017 Aug 16; 15 (1): 156156.

AbstractAccording to data presented at the 2017 American Society of Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, with more than 4 years of follow-up, ibrutinib continues to provide clinical utility in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, treatment of CLL patients with high-risk cytogenetics features remains a challenge and the outcome of these hard-to-treat patients is dismal. At the 2017 ASCO Meeting, results of the GENUINE phase III trial showed that, by adding ublituximab, a glycoengineered, anti-CD20 type 1 monoclonal antibody, to ibrutinib, the overall response rate (ORR), complete response rate (CRR), and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity may be improved in high-risk CLL patients. A further way to improve the results obtained with Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors is the parallel use of ibrutinib with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Through this investigational approach, the rate of MRD negativity was shown to be higher, implying potential eradication of CLL. These novel data indicate that ibrutinib continues to have a positive effect in CLL.

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