Changes in molecular biology of chronic myeloid leukemia in tyrosine kinase inhibitor era

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative disease characterized by a reciprocal translocation between long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22 t(9;22) that generates the BCR-ABL fusion gene. If left untreated, newly diagnosed chronic phase CML patients finally progress to accelerated and blastic phase. After the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), treatment strategies of CML changed dramatically. However, the development of resistance to TKIs started to create problems over time. In this review, the current information about CML biology before and after imatinib mesylate treatment is summarized.