History of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Authors

Miguel A. Sanz^{1, *,} , Eva Barragán^{2, 3}

¹Department of Hematology, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe, Valencia, Spain

²Clinical Laboratory, Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe, Valencia, Spain

³Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer, Carlos III Institute, Madrid, Spain

^*Corresponding author. Email: msanz@uv.es

DOI

10.2991/chi.k.210703.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Acute promeloctic leukemia; arsenic trioxide; all-trans retinoic acid

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the history of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) from the pre-therapeutic era, which began after its recognition by Hillestad in 1947 as a nosological entity, to the present day. It is a paradigmatic history that has transformed the “most malignant leukemia form” into the most curable one. The identification of a balanced reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 15 and 17, resulting in fusion between the promyelocytic leukemia gene and the retinoic acid receptor alpha, has been crucial in understanding the mechanisms of leukemogenesis, and responsible for the peculiar response to targeted therapy with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO). We review the milestones that marked successive therapeutic advances, beginning with the introduction of the first successful chemotherapy in the early 1970s, followed by a subsequent incorporation of ATRA and ATO in the late 1980s and early 1990s which have revolutionized the treatment of this disease. Over the past two decades, treatment optimization has relied on the combination of ATRA, ATO, and chemotherapy according to risk-adapted approaches, which together with improvements in supportive therapy have paved the way for cure for most patients with APL.

Copyright

© 2021 International Academy for Clinical Hematology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Miguel A. Sanz
AU  - Eva Barragán
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/07/19
TI  - History of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
JO  - Clinical Hematology International
SP  - 142
EP  - 152
VL  - 3
IS  - 4
SN  - 2590-0048
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/chi.k.210703.001
DO  - 10.2991/chi.k.210703.001
ID  - Sanz2021
ER  -