BACKGROUND The gastrointestinal tract is a rare site for extramedullary involvement in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). CASE REPORT A 43-year-old female with no past medical history presented complaining of mild abdominal pain, fever, and chills for the past day. On examination, she was tachycardic and febrile, with mild tenderness of her right lower quadrant and without signs of peritonea...

A 42-year-old female was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with a translocation of chromosomes 15 and 17 involving the PML and RARA genes. On presentation she met criteria for low-risk disease on the basis of platelet count (50 10/L) and WBC count (0.8 10/L). The patient achieved a complete molecular remission after induction chemotherapy with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) and ...

Introduction: Arsenic Trioxide is effective and approved for treatment of relapsed or refractory APL cases to ATRA but its effects in new cases of APL is not clear and needs long term follow up to disclose the role of this drug in treatment of APL in combination with chemotherapy/ATRA or alone. Material and methods: we studied 111cases of APL (94 new case and 17 relapsed) diagnosed by morpholog...

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a biologically and clinically separate type of acute myeloid leukemia characterized by a translocation involving the retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RARa) locus on chromosome 17, the great majority of which is t(15; 17)(q24.1; q21.1) (Collins (1998), Melnick and Licht (1999), and Grimwade (1999)). Retinoic acid is a critical ligand in the differentiation path...

CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs) are a family of factors that regulate cell growth and differentiation. These factors, particularly C/EBPalpha and C/EBPepsilon, have important roles in normal myelopoiesis. In addition, loss of C/EBP activity appears to have a role in the pathogenesis of myeloid disorders including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a sub...

Background and Purpose—We sought to estimate risk of recurrent stroke/TIA/death in the subgroup of the Patent Foramen Ovale in the Cryptogenic Stroke Study (PICSS) cohort with patent foramen ovale (PFO) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and to estimate risk of recurrent stroke/TIA/death in aPL-positive patients who have thickened left-side heart valves (VaT). PFO is associated with cryptoge...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We sought to estimate risk of recurrent stroke/TIA/death in the subgroup of the Patent Foramen Ovale in the Cryptogenic Stroke Study (PICSS) cohort with patent foramen ovale (PFO) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and to estimate risk of recurrent stroke/TIA/death in aPL-positive patients who have thickened left-side heart valves (VaT). PFO is associated with cryptoge...

Tightly regulated expression of the transcription factor PU.1 is crucial for normal hematopoiesis. PU.1 knockdown mice develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and PU.1 mutations have been observed in some populations of patients with AML. Here we found that conditional expression of promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML-RARA), the protein encoded by the t(15;17) translocation f...

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) represents a medical emergency with a high rate of early mortality. As a consequence, as soon as the diagnosis is suspected based upon cytologic criteria, it is necessary to start all- trans retinoic acid (ATRA) treatment without delay. For patients with newly diagnosed APL, induction therapy with ATRA plus anthracycline based chemotherapy is recommended. At p...