OBJECTIVE To evaluate factors predictive for relapse in a cohort of adult patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia monitored by molecular methods during consolidation and during at least one month of maintenance therapy. METHODS The charts and laboratory data of 65 adult patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia treated according to the International Consortium on Acute Promyelocytic Leuke...

introduction: the telomeric dna together with its associated  proteins protects the chromosome ends from degradation or aberrant recombination. telomerase and telomere are closely associated with  development of cancers. in this study we aim to investigate the significance of telomerase activity (ta) and telomere length (tl) in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (apl). methods: peripher...

background: acute promyelocytic leukemia is a sub-type of acute myelogenous leukemia that occurs in about 10-15% of patients with aml. approximately 20%-30% of these patients, who are treated with the current standard all trans retinoic acid (atra) and anthracyclin-based chemotherapy regimen, suffer relapse in less than a year. arsenic trioxide (ato) as a single agent can induce complete remiss...

background: acute promyelocytic leukemia (apl) is a unique subtype of acute leukemia. apl is a curable disease; however, drug resistance, early mortality, disease relapse and treatment-related complications remain challenges in apl patient management. one issue underlying these challenges is that the molecular mechanisms of the disease are not sufficiently understood. materials and methods: in ...

Leukemia results from the expansion of self-renewing hematopoietic cells that are thought to contain mutations that contribute to disease initiation and progression. Studies of the gene expression profiles of human acute myeloid leukemia samples has allowed their classification based on the presence of translocations and French-American-British subtypes, but it is not yet clear whether their mo...

Therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia is a rare event and the prognosis is poor. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is recently being reported as an effective treatment. We present a young patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia who developed myelodysplastic syndrome 52 months after complete remission. She underwent allogeneic peripheral bl...

Early mortality in acute promyelocytic leukemia has been reported to occur in less than 10% of patients treated in clinical trials. This study reports the incidence and clinical features of acute promyelocytic leukemia patients treated at Stanford Hospital, CA, USA since March 1997, focusing on early mortality. We show that the risk of early death in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients is hig...

Patients with hematologic malignancies are immunosuppressive and may develop cutaneous or invasive infections as a primary sign of immune suppression. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (acute myeloid leukemia M3) is caused by translocation of reciprocal chromosomal rearrangement t(15;17), which produces an oncogenic protein. We herein describe a 71-year-old man having cellulitis with leukocytopenia ...

BACKGROUND The gene for preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma (PRAME) has been shown to be over-expressed in acute promyelocytic leukemia, but its actual incidence and clinical impact are still unknown. DESIGN AND METHODS We studied PRAME expression at diagnosis using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 125 patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia enrolled in the Span...

introduction: fournier's gangrene or necrotizing fasciitis of external genitalia is a medical emergency. it was reported in cases of acute promyelocytic leukemia (apl) before and during induction therapy with all- trans retinoic acid (atra).we present a case of apl that developed fournier's gangrene   during atra therapy.