title: Towards targeted therapy for infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
abstract: Despite the greatly improved treatment regimes for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in general, resulting in long-term survival in approximately 80% of cases, current therapies still fail in >50% of ALL cases diagnosed within the first year of life (i.e. in infants). Therefore, more adequate treatment strategies are urgently needed to also improve the prognosis for these very young patients with ALL. Here we review the current acquaintance with the biology of infant ALL and describe how this knowledge may lead to innovative therapeutic approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Oncology/Haematology, Erasmus MC - Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ronald W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Stam
authors.forename: Monique L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: den Boer
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pieters
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005544:Forecasting; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009154:Mutation; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / Q000235:genetics; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
chemical_list: C497422:KMT2A protein, human; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase