Leukemia

Over the past forty years, adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) has moved from heavy “one-size-fits-all” chemotherapy to highly tailored, biology-driven care. In the early 1980s, Dieter Hoelzer’s landmark multicentre trial in Germany applied paediatric-inspired combinations – vincristine, prednisone, daunorubicin, asparaginase, cytarabine and 6-mercaptopurine – raising complete remission rates to nearly 78% but still grappling with severe toxicity and frequent relapse.

Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL) is a rare and highly aggressive condition, once considered the most severe and incurable acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Since its initial description in the 1950s, significant progress has been made in understanding the disease, including the identification of the leukemic transformation process, the t(15;17) translocation, and the rearrangement of the retinoic acid receptor alfa (RARA) with the PML gene in the 1970s.