[Progress in biology and the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia].

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) is a distinct subtype of acute myeloid leukaemia distinguished by the presence of a balanced chromosomal translocation: t(15; 17). The most characteristic clinical manifestation of this disease is the presence of a haemorrhagic syndrome associated with an abnormal coagulation profile. In the last few years significant progress in the understanding of the biology of this leukaemia and its treatment has been done. In particular, the breakpoint on chromosome 17 has been localized within the retinoic acid receptor alpha locus while the breakpoint on chromosome 15 has been localized within a new gene named PML. In contrast to the other acute myeloid leukaemia subtypes APL shows high response rate to induction monochemotherapy with anthracycline drugs and with all-trans retinoic acid.