You are here
They say "it is cured" ..see who ?
Well there has been a lot of reaction to this on various F/book pages and I can see why people would be upset. I think though that the word 'cure' (and we have had this discussion before) is being used in this sense... TKI therapy provided a 'functional cure' a phrase coined by Moshe Talpaz and others some years ago.
I have a problem with the word 'cure' in any context but especially in the context of CML and other cancers. However, what we are seeing is the possibilities of treatment free remission through TKI therapy in some portions of the CML population...see Basil's uplifting post about his 5 year TFR.
This I suppose may be interpreted by some as a 'cure' but it depends on how hard you look and on the limits of technology to detect remaining disease... I prefer to think of the immune system regaining control over damaged or rogue cells. This is how the body works constantly to keep some kind of equilibrium that allows us to keep going.
Sandy
I concur with your statement and conclusion Sandy. TFR can never be seen as a "cure", but merely the Bodies Immune system being able to suppress the effect of the Philadelphia Syndrome. After all the 9-22 translocation is still present and therefor the abnormality still exists. Until the status of these Chromosomes can be restored, residual CML will be present at very low detection levels.