A review of the infection pathogenesis and prophylaxis recommendations in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A review of the infection pathogenesis and prophylaxis recommendations in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Expert Rev Hematol. 2017 Nov 21;: Authors: Tadmor T, Welslau M, Hus I Abstract INTRODUCTION: The majority of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) will obtain an infectious complication at some point during their disease, accounting for up to an estimated 60% of deaths in CLL. Patients are predisposed to infection due to inherent immune defects related to the primary disease, and as a result of therapy. The range of infectious complications has evolved alongside therapeutic advances in the treatment of CLL. More recently several novel targeted therapeutic compounds have been introduced in CLL, whose unique safety profiles will probably have an impact on the prophylaxis and management of infectious complications in these patients Areas covered: This review describes the pathogenesis of infections due to intrinsic CLL or therapy-related immunosuppression, and deals with the importance of proactive and reactive infection management as a key focus of patient care. Infectious complications related to conventional chemotherapy, as well as immunochemotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, targeted therapies with B-cell receptor pathway inhibitors and Bcl-2 antagonists are reviewed. Expert commentary: Despite the importance of infection management and prevention in high-risk patients, there are only limited infection ...
Source: Expert Review of Hematology - Category: Hematology Tags: Expert Rev Hematol Source Type: research