OBJECTIVEMeta-analysis of the efficiencies of imatinib mesylate (IM) with or without interferon for chronic myeloid leukemia-chronic phase (CML-CP) patients.

METHODSPublished studies of IM with or without interferon for CML-CP patients as first-line therapy were collected from PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) of the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine (CBM), VIP information and WANFANG database. References of retrieved articles were also identified. The quality of each randomized controlled trial (RCT) was evaluated by the Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing the risk of bias. Data analysis was performed with RevMan 5.1.

RESULTSA total of 5 articles involving 1754 patients were included. Meta-analysis results showed that there were no statistical differences between IM with interferon and IM monotherapy for the complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) rate at 12 months,but IM with interferon could improve major molecular response (MMR) rate at 12 months (OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.26-1.96, P=0.02). Furthermore, IM combined with pegylated-interferon demonstrated superiority for MMR at 12 months (OR=2.43, 95% CI: 1.78-3.33, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONCombination of IM and interferon does not increase CCyR rate, but improve MMR rate at 12 months.