Advances in childhood leukaemia: successful clinical-trials research leads to individualised therapy

Leukaemia accounts for about a third of all childhood malignancies. About 80% of children with leukaemia have acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), 17% have acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and the remainder have rare forms of chronic leukaemia. Collaborative clinical trials research has brought about dramatic improvements in cure rates for children with acute leukaemia, but about 20% of children still relapse. Most of those who relapse will die of the disease. Moreover, some survivors face an uncertain future of health problems because of treatment side effects. Here we review selected recent developments in childhood leukaemia.