Intermittent targeting as a tool to minimize toxicity of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy has revolutionized the outcome of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and has transformed a fatal disease into a chronic condition for most patients. At present, the therapeutic armamentarium against CML includes imatinib for newly diagnosed patients, and dasatinib and nilotinib, which have both received marketing approval, for imatinib-resistant and imatinib-intolerant disease. Research efforts are now focused on how to optimize therapeutic strategies in an attempt to improve clinical results further, counteract the development of drug resistance and reduce adverse effects. A randomized, international, phase III study of dasatinib dose and schedule optimization in imatinib-resistant and imatinib-intolerant patients with CML has demonstrated that intermittent target inhibition can preserve therapeutic efficacy and reduce toxicity. This finding has important implications, not only for patients with CML, but also for the development of targeted therapies for human malignancies in general.