Published in:
01-05-2010 | Case Report
Relapsed APL patient with variant NPM–RARα fusion responded to arsenic trioxide-based therapy and achieved long-term survival
Authors:
Yan Chen, Ling Gu, Chenyan Zhou, Xueqiang Wu, Ju Gao, Qiang Li, Yiping Zhu, Cangsong Jia, Zhigui Ma
Published in:
International Journal of Hematology
|
Issue 4/2010
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Abstract
The t(5;17)/NPM–RARα is the second variant chromosomal translocation in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) to be characterized and also the second most plentiful variant translocation. So far, there is a lack of information on the effectiveness of arsenic trioxide (ATO) in relapsed APL with variant RARα chimera including t(5;17)/NPM–RARα. We report here a long-term survived APL patient with variant NPM–RARα fusion who relapsed four times and each time responded well to ATO or ATO-based re-induction therapy. The patient had received a total of more than 3,500 mg of ATO, but showed no obvious arsenic-related toxicities. This case illustrates the long-term efficiency and safety of ATO-based therapy not only in newly diagnosed APL, but also in relapsed APL including those with variant translocations.