Treatment Options

There are several ways to treat children with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Standard Treatment

The standard treatment includes medication to block an enzyme that causes stem cells to develop into more white blood cells. This is called tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. It is usually used as a first-line treatment for newly diagnosed patients.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is used to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. 

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy uses the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. Medications are given to boost the body’s natural defenses against cancer. 

Bone-Marrow (hematopoietic stem cell) Transplant

Bone-marrow transplant involves killing off cancer cells and the damaged immune system and replacing it with transplanted stem cells that grow into and restore the body’s blood cells.

Surgery

Surgery to remove the spleen is also a possible treatment for CML.

New Treatments

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, an SCCA parent organization, in 1998 published results of a research study that showed that chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients who received a bone-marrow transplant from a tissue-type matched unrelated donor could expect about the same five-year survival rate as patients with matched related donors. Since then, Hutchinson Center researchers have led the way in improving the treatment of CML. 

They have pioneered the development of DNA-based techniques that have extended the use of unrelated donors in transplants for CML and other blood-related cancers; developed immunotherapies to fight CML, like adoptive immunotherapy where patients receive transfusions of cancer-fighting donor white blood cells; developed many antibody-based treatments that specifically target cancer cells and vaccine approaches that activate the immune system against cancer cells.