Therapy of Early Chronic Phase CML With Higher-Dose Gleevec, Alpha Interferon, and Low-Dose Ara-C

Imatinib mesylate is a new oral medication that blocks a protein that is responsible for CML Before treatment starts, patients will have a physical exam, blood tests, and a bone marrow study. The bone marrow will be removed with a large needle. Women able to have children will have a screening blood or urine test for pregnancy. Patients on this study will take 400 mg of imatinib twice daily (morning and evening). If you have side effects, the dose may be lowered. If you are taking less than 800 mg of imatinib, you can take your dose once per day or divided in two doses. Imatinib mesylate should be taken with a large glass of water. Bottles containing the tablets will be given to the patient every 6 months. Unused supplies must be returned at the end of the study. After completing 3 to 12 months of therapy, response to imatinib mesylate will be evaluated. If the response is good, treatment with imatinib mesylate alone will be continued. Treatment may be continued for up to 20 years, or as long as it is judged best to control the leukemia. Update: June 2010 Blood tests are recommended 2 times per year. Your doctor will discuss with you how often you should have blood tests. Bone marrow will be done if your doctor thinks it is necessary to check your disease. You must return to MD Anderson at least once every year. You may not need a bone marrow test every visit, but you will have blood drawn to measure the amount of disease you have. If the leukemia cannot be found for 2 years or longer on the blood test called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which is done to measure the amount of disease you have, your doctor may talk to you about stopping treatment with imatinib. If you and your doctor decide to stop your therapy, you will have a blood test for PCR done every 3 to 6 months. You do not need to return to MD Anderson to have this blood test done. You may have the blood taken by your local doctor and mailed to M. D. Anderson. If the leukemia is found again by the PCR blood test, your doctor may recommend that you restart treatment with imatinib. You may decide to stay on treatment with imatinib even if your PCR blood test does not show any sign of leukemia for 2 years or longer. This is an investigational study. Imatinib mesylate has been approved in CML. A total of 125 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at MD Anderson.