Photoinduced dermatitis and oral lichenoid reaction in a chronic myeloid leukemia patient treated with imatinib mesylate.

Background: Imatinib mesylate (IM) is a phenylaminopyrimidine that represents the first-line treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), Philadelphia chromosome-positive. It acts as a potent and selective inhibitor of the bcr-abl fusion protein by a competitive inhibition at the adenosine triphosphate-binding site of the enzyme, which leads to the inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation of the proteins involved in bcr-abl signal transduction. IM is generally well tolerated and usually provokes only mild side effects consisting of nausea, myalgia, edema and muscle cramps.