Infections in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: Mitigating risk in the era of targeted therapies

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is the most common leukaemia with infections a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Recently there has been a paradigm shift from the use of chemo-immunotherapies to agents targeting specific B-lymphocyte pathways. These agents include ibrutinib, idelalisib and venetoclax. In this review, the risks and timing of infections associated with these agents are described, taking into account disease and treatment status. Treatment with ibrutinib as monotherapy or in combination with chemo-immunotherapies is not associated with additional risk for infection. In contrast, the use of idelalisib is associated with a 2-fold risk for severe infection and opportun..