title: Curing APL: differentiation or destruction?
abstract: In a recent issue of Nature Medicine, Nasr et al. show that the effectiveness of all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide in acute promyelocytic leukemia is independent of their ability to cause differentiation. Targeted destruction of the PML-RARalpha oncoprotein appears key to eliminating the cells from which relapse can arise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. scott.kogan@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kogan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077237:Arsenic Trioxide; D001152:Arsenicals / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000378:metabolism*; D010087:Oxides / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D001152:Arsenicals; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D010087:Oxides; C093476:promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid receptor alpha fusion oncoprotein; D014212:Tretinoin; D000077237:Arsenic Trioxide