Treatment of malignant hematology diseases with all transretinoic acid

Mature blast cells: Retinoids, and particularly all transretinoic acid (ATRA) can induce in vitro and in vivo differentiation of blasts from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Complete remission rates of about 90% can be obtain in vivo in APL through blast differentiation. ATRA syndrome: ATRA treatment has a potentially lethal side effect, the ATRA syndrome, generally associated to rapidly increasing blood leukocyte counts. Addition of conventional chemotherapy to ATRA can prevent or reduce this side effect and can also greatly diminish the incidence of relapses. About 70% of APL can be cured with combination therapy using ATRA and chemotherapy. This cure rate can be compared with the 40% obtained with chemotherapy alone. Other hematological malignancies: ATRA and other retinoids have limited efficacy in other malignant hematology diseases, with the possible exception of juvenile chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and cutaneous epidermotrophic lymphomas.