Preeti Tripathi1* and Janmeet Kular2
1Associate Professor, Hematopathology, Army Hospital Research and Referral, New Delhi, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Army Hopsital Research and Referral, New Delhi, India
*Corresponding Author: Preeti Tripathi, Associate Professor, Hematopathology, Army Hospital Research and Referral, New Delhi, India.
Received: April 11, 2023; Published: April 14, 2023
Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is one of the medical emergencies in malignant hematology, wherein, high index of suspicion and early diagnosis is paramount. In 90-95% cases this malignancy results from a balanced translocation, commonly t(15;17) (q22;q12-21), which leads to the fusion of the promyelocytic leukemia gene (PML) with retinoic acid receptor alpha gene (RARA). Other rare cases (10-15%) which arise due to cryptic or complex rearrangements lack this classical translocation. Genetic diagnosis becomes essential in such patients as these patients may have atypical clinical presentations, require a different approach to treatment and have different prognosis in long run. APL on morphology has classical “buttock shaped” abnormal promyelocytes with faggots - However this classical morphology may be absent in variants. Immunophenotypically also - variants may have a deviant phenotype. Crisp management of early complications can save precious lives. Development of new targeted molecules have changed the course of APL treatment.
Keywords: Promyelocytic Leukemia; Retinoic Acid Receptor; ATRA
Citation: Preeti Tripathi and Janmeet Kular. “Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) - Biology, Diagnosis and Prognosis" Acta Scientific Cancer Biology 7.3 (2023): 08-14.
Copyright: © 2023 Preeti Tripathi and Janmeet Kular. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.