This article needs to be updated.(May 2015) |
Acute promyelocytic leukemia | |
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Bone marrow smear from a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia, showing characteristic abnormal promyelocytes.[1] | |
Specialty | Hematology and oncology |
Usual onset | ~40 years old[2] |
Causes | Uncontrolled proliferation of promyelocytes[2] |
Frequency | Develops in about 600 to 800 people per year (United States)[2] |
Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APML, APL) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer of the white blood cells.[3] In APL, there is an abnormal accumulation of immature granulocytes called promyelocytes. The disease is characterized by a chromosomal translocation involving the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) gene and is distinguished from other forms of AML by its responsiveness to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA; also known as tretinoin) therapy. Acute promyelocytic leukemia was first characterized in 1957[4][5] by French and Norwegian physicians as a hyperacute fatal illness,[3] with a median survival time of less than a week.[6] Today, prognoses have drastically improved; 10-year survival rates are estimated to be approximately 80-90% according to one study.[7][6][8]
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