Targeting Agents Alone to Cure Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Mené sur156 patients atteints d'une leucémie promyélocytaire aiguë à risque faible ou intermédiaire, cet essai de phase III compare, du point de vue de la survie sans événement, un traitement combinant trioxyde d'arsenic et acide tout-trans-rétinoïque (ATRA) avec un traitement combinant ATRA et chimiothérapie (durée médiane de suivi : 34,4 mois)

Résumé en anglais

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a distinct subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that is characterized by abnormal promyelocytes, a life-threatening bleeding syndrome, and t(15;17) chromosomal translocation. APL used to be the worst form of leukemia. The introduction of anthracycline-based chemotherapy in the 1970s yielded a complete remission rate of 70% and a long-term survival rate of 35 to 45%. The use of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in the 1980s represented a revolution in APL treatment because of a high complete-remission rate (>90%) and an essential clue to the leukemogenicity of the chimeric gene product PML-RARA resulting from . . .