MALE PATIENTS ON GLEEVEC
The following comments are out of a 2007 issue of Leukemia Research titled
'Male Patients with CML treated with imatinib involved in healthy
pregnancies: Report of 5 cases' by Italian doctors.
- In animal studies, Gleevec was seen to reduce sperm count but there
have been published reports of male Gleevec patients involved in healthy
pregnancies. The 5 male Gleevec patients studied had median age 30.5
years and had been on Gleevec for 17.6 months when conception occurred.
4 patients had received Gleevec 400mg a day dose and 1 patient Gleevec
600mg a day. All patients tolerated Gleevec well and except for 1
patient had all reached CCR at the time of conception. In 2 patients,
sperm count was done with no abnormalities seen. All pregnancies were
uneventful with healthy babies born.
- Ault had previously published data on 8 men on Gleevec median 35 yrs
of age, median exposure to Gleevec 20 months where there was 1 case of
spontaneous abortion and one case of gut malrotation. Ramasamy reported
4 Gleevec male patients, median age 45 years, exposure to Gleevec 18
months and all pregnancies of partners were healthy.
- So, from all the previous data and the present data, the doctors
conclude that conception in CML male patients receiving Gleevec may
result in normal pregnancies of partners even though the male hormones
(androgens) produced may have been shown to be decreased in patients
who had low sperm count and gynecomastia (enlarged breasts in males).
There has also been suggestion of low levels of testesterone in male
Gleevec patients as a result of inhibition of PDGFr and C-kit enzymes,
especially with high Gleevec doses.
- Although studies so far on male Gleevec patients show that healthy
pregnancies in partners are possible, more studies are required and
studies of the influence of Gleevec dose on testesterone levels are
warranteed.