Dr. Wetzler on Autologous Transplantation in Ph+ALL

Meir Wetzler, MD, Chief, Leukemia Section, Department of Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, explains the CALGB 10001 study analyzing autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ALL).

The authors of the study hypothesized that an imatinib and sequential chemotherapy regimen would allow for the collection of a patient’s normal hematopoietic stem cells not contaminated by residual BCR/ABL+ lymphoblasts and reduce the likelihood of relapse after an autologous transplantation.

The study found that autologous transplantation is a safe and effective alternative to allogeneic transplantation for patients with Ph+ALL.