Changing landscape of frontline therapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

The therapeutic landscape for chronic lymphocytic leukemia has significantly evolved in recent years as our understanding of the biology of this disease has advanced. Chemoimmunotherapy has been the standard frontline treatment for patients of all age groups with chronic lymphocytic leukemia over the last decade. B-cell receptor signaling pathway plays a central role in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The advent of novel small-molecule therapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia targeting the B-cell receptor signaling pathway has dramatically changed the therapeutic landscape with recent studies establishing ibrutinib, a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, as the frontline treatment of choice regardless of patient's age, performance status or risk-category. Although these current advances along with the approval of other newer agents for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a significant step forward, newer challenges have emerged on how to best utilize these new treatment options.

Keywords:

• Frontline therapy
• CLL
• chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest.