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Molecular remission and reconstitution of a full chimera with arsenic trioxide in a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia relapsed after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Leukemia volume 16, pages 2455–2456 (2002)Cite this article

Recently, the therapeutic effect of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has been proven in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients in relapse and at diagnosis by several groups in China.1 On the basis of the impressive results obtained in the pilot trial of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,2 92% complete remission (CR) rate in relapsed APL patients, in the United States a multicenter study has been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of As2O3 for remission induction and consolidation in a larger population of APL patients who had relapsed from prior retinoic and anthracycline-based chemotherapy.3 In this study the authors reported an 85% CR rate with a relapse free survival rate at 18 months of 56%.

Here, we report a patient with APL who was treated with As2O3 while in second relapse after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The patient, a 53-year-old male, was diagnosed in July 1998 with APL, at diagnosis cytogenetic showed a normal karyotype while with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay a PML/RARα transcript with a bcr3 isoform was identified. The patient was treated according to the GIMEMA AIDA trial4 reaching a complete remission after induction treatment with a persistence of the transcript at the RT-PCR. The molecular complete remission was obtained after the second consolidation therapy.

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  1. Division of Hematology, Niguarda Ca'Granda Hospital Milano, Italy

    A Tedeschi, R Cairoli, P Marenco, A Nosari, E Tresoldi, E Di Bona, M Montillo & E Morra

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  1. A Tedeschi
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  2. R Cairoli
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  3. P Marenco
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  4. A Nosari
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Tedeschi, A., Cairoli, R., Marenco, P. et al. Molecular remission and reconstitution of a full chimera with arsenic trioxide in a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia relapsed after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Leukemia 16, 2455–2456 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402716

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