Based on the early French-American-British (FAB) classification, Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL) is one of the subtypes (M3) of Acute Myeloid Leukemia AML [1]. The PML-RARA fusion is reportedly found in 5-15% of AML and occurs at any age but predominantly in adults in mid-life [1,2]. ''RARA'' fusion proteins behave as potent transcriptional repressors of retinoic acid signaling, inducing a differentiation blockage at the promyelocyte stage which can be overcome with therapeutic doses of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) or arsenic trioxide [1-5]. ATO (arsenic trioxide) also induces differentiation of the malignant myeloid clone by dissociating the PML/RAR-alpha-RXR complex from the target genes and was found to have a synergistic action with ATRA [4]. | Based on the early French-American-British (FAB) classification, Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL) is one of the subtypes (M3) of Acute Myeloid Leukemia AML [1]. The PML-RARA fusion is reportedly found in 5-15% of AML and occurs at any age but predominantly in adults in mid-life [1,2]. ''RARA'' fusion proteins behave as potent transcriptional repressors of retinoic acid signaling, inducing a differentiation blockage at the promyelocyte stage which can be overcome with therapeutic doses of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) or arsenic trioxide [1-5]. ATO (arsenic trioxide) also induces differentiation of the malignant myeloid clone by dissociating the PML/RAR-alpha-RXR complex from the target genes and was found to have a synergistic action with ATRA [4]. |