Hematopoietic stem cell involvement in BCR-ABL1-positive ALL as a potential mechanism of resistance to blinatumomab therapy.

ABSTRACT: The bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab targeting CD19 can induce complete remission in relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL). However, some patients ultimately relapse with loss of CD19 antigen on leukemic cells, which has been established as a novel mechanism to escape CD19-specific immunotherapies. Here, we provide evidence that CD19-negative (CD19^-) relapse after CD19-directed therapy in BCP-ALL may be a result of the selection of preexisting CD19^- malignant progenitor cells. We present 2 BCR-ABL1 fusion-positive BCP-ALL patients with CD19^- myeloid lineage relapse after blinatumomab therapy and show BCR-ABL1 positivity in their hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)/progenitor/myeloid compartments at init

SUBMITTER: Nagel I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5726343 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature