Arsenic trioxide and all-trans retinoic acid in the treatment of children with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia.

For pediatric patients with APL receiving ATRA-ATO, the main adverse effect was a frequent increase of liver SGOT/SGPT by hepatocytotoxicity which was reversible and appeared to be manageable with temporary discontinuation of ATO. Arsenic trioxide (ATO), which was initially used in the treatment of refractory or relapsed APL [[2]], has been proven to be effective in the therapy of newly diagnosed APL [[3]]. Two patients declined ATRA-ATO therapy and were excluded. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) characterized by the reciprocal translocation of t(15;17) (q22;q21) encoding the promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid receptor- (PML-RAR ) fusion protein in approximate 90% of cases [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]