[A brief history of treatments for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia].
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most frequent childhood malignancy. The first effective drugs, which provided only short-lived complete remission, started to be used in the 1950s. All the effective drugs currently in use were discovered in the 1960s, when the first multidrug chemotherapy regimens were shown to confer prolonged complete remission, raising the possibility of a cure. Simultaneously, progress in our knowledge of leukaemic cells, and the identification of prognostic factors such as leukocytosis, age, cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities, and the early therapeutic response of leukaemic cells, led to randomized multicenter national and international trials. As a result, the chance of cure increased gradually over the last three decades. In rich countries, the overall survival rate among children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia now reaches 85 to 90%.
Leverger
Guy
G
Hématologie oncologie pédiatrique, Hôpital Armand Trousseau, 26, avenue du Docteur Arnold Netter, 75012 Paris, UPMC, Paris 6, UMR-5938, France. guy.leverger@trs.aphp.fr
Baruchel
André
A
Schaison
Gérard
G
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000266:history* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015195:Drug Design; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012074:Remission Induction
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents