title: Philadelphia positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia of childhood.
abstract: On current chemotherapeutic regimens, children with Philadelphia positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia show a heterogeneous response to treatment. A few respond quickly to treatment and achieve long-term remission. Some fail to achieve remission after induction and the majority respond slowly to treatment. Relapse on treatment is common and remission is sustained in a proportion of cases only after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). The use of imatinib along with conventional cytoreductive therapy, prior to allo-SCT appears to be the most promising strategy. The future lies in the molecular evaluation of response to treatment and combination targeted chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Children's Cancer Group, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Louise K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Vaskar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saha
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001549:Benzamides; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001549:Benzamides; D010879:Piperazines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate