Daunorubicin for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia

Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive neoplastic disorder of the hematopoietic stem cells characterized by an increase in the number of myeloid cells in the marrow and an arrest in their maturation, resulting in hematopoietic insufficiency with or without leukocytosis. The initial treatment of AML has remained largely unchanged in the past decades and resistance to cytotoxic agents emerged as one of the major causes of treatment failure. Areas covered: The usage of daunorubicin (DNR) in the treatment of AML will be discussed by analyzing the main papers testing its efficacy. Expert opinion: At present, although we are already familiar with many genetic lesions, we still know only a little about their consequences in the majority of cases. Although in an ideal scenario conventional chemotherapies will be replaced by targeted biological agents, it is likely that a backbone chemotherapy (possibly including DNR) will remain for a relatively long time among the anti-AML strategies.