All-trans retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukaemia.
The vitamin A derivative, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), induces differentiation of leukaemic promyelocytes in patients with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). As a result, the majority of patients achieve complete remission either with ATRA alone or with combined ATRA and chemotherapy. The most important complication is the retinoic acid syndrome, which is usually successfully treated with the early administration of dexamethasone. Prospective randomized trials have shown that ATRA is better than conventional chemotherapy in newly diagnosed patients, that ATRA combined with chemotherapy confers an advantage with respect to relapse rate, compared to ATRA alone for induction followed by chemotherapy for consolidation, and that maintenance therapy with ATRA or ATRA plus low-dose chemotherapy is beneficial. The presence of adverse prognostic factors, including older age, presenting white blood cell count and platelet count, expression of CD56 and presence of mutations in the FLT3 gene, identify patients at risk for relapse for whom new strategies are needed.[1]References
- All-trans retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Avvisati, G., Tallman, M.S. Best practice & research. Clinical haematology. (2003) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
