Management of Myelofibrosis

Abstract Myelofibrosis (MF), either primary or arising from previous polycythemia vera (PV) or essential thrombocythemia (ET), is the worst among the chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms in terms of survival and quality of life. Patients with MF have to face several clinical issues that, because of the poor effectiveness of medical therapy, surgery or radiotherapy, represent largely unmet clinical needs. Powerful risk stratification systems, applicable either at diagnosis using the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) or during the variable course of illness using the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System (DIPSS) and DIPSS Plus, allow recognition of categories of patients with survival times ranging from decades to < 2 years. These scores are especially important for therapeutic decisions that include allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allogeneic SCT), the only curative approach that still carries a nonnegligible risk of morbidity and mortality even with newest reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens. Discovery of JAK2V617F mutation prompted the development of clinical trials using JAK2 inhibitors; these agents overall have resulted in meaningful symptomatic improvement and reduction of splenomegaly that were otherwise not achievable with conventional therapy. Intriguing differences in the efficacy and tolerability of JAK2 inhibitors are being recognized, which could lead to a nonoverlapping spectrum of activity/safety. Other agents that do not directly target JAK2 and have shown symptomatic efficacy in MF are represented by inhibitors of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). Pomalidomide appears to be particularly active against MF-associated anemia. However, because these agents are all poorly effective in reducing the burden of mutated cells, further advancements are needed to move from enhancing our ability to palliate the disease to arriving at an actual cure for MF.