Rapid Amelioration of Hyperglycemia Facilitated by Dasatinib in a Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patient with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been shown to affect glucose metabolism in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML); however, their precise mechanism of action remains unknown. We herein report the case of a 57-year-old diabetic CML patient who was resistant to imatinib and initially required 20 units of insulin daily to control his blood glucose levels. After the initiation of dasatinib, the patient's insulin requirements declined rapidly and insulin treatment was discontinued within two weeks. Meanwhile, the fasting C-peptide immunoreactivity increased two-fold, suggesting that dasatinib facilitated the recovery of insulin production. Dasatinib may therefore be beneficial for diabetic CML patients, especially those who require insulin treatment.