Frequency of Major Molecular Responses to Imatinib or Interferon Alfa plus Cytarabine in Newly Diagnosed Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

In a randomized trial, 1106 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase were assigned to imatinib or interferon alfa plus cytarabine as initial therapy. We measured levels of BCR-ABL transcripts in the blood of all patients in this trial who had a complete cytogenetic remission.

Levels of BCR-ABL transcripts were measured by a quantitative real-time polymerase-chain-reaction assay. Results were expressed relative to the median level of BCR-ABL transcripts in the blood of 30 patients with untreated CML in chronic phase.