Combination therapy with interferon and JAK1-2 inhibitor is feasible: Proof of concept with rapid reduction in JAK2V617F-allele burden in polycythemia vera

• Main Authors: M.E. Bjørn, K. de Stricker, L. Kjær, K. Ellemann, H.C. Hasselbalch
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2014-01-01
• Series: Leukemia Research Reports
• Subjects: Polycythemia vera; JAK2V617F-allele burden; Combination therapy; Interferon; Ruxolitinib
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213048914000107
• ISSN: 2213-0489

We report a 55 year old woman with post-ET PV for 12 years, who experienced resolution of severe constitutional symptoms within 3 days, a marked reduction in splenomegaly and a rapid decline in the JAK2V617F allele burden during combination therapy with interferon-alpha2a and ruxolitinib. Within 4 weeks the patient achieved complete hematological remission with normalization of peripheral blood counts and within 10 months the JAK2V617F-allele burden was reduced from 90% to 28%. Such a rapid decline in the JAK2V617F allele burden is highly unusual in PV-patients during low-dose IFN-alpha2 monotherapy and this finding warrants a prospective study with combination therapy.