Wards of Acute Leukemia Patients

Wards of Acute Leukemia Patients

Today, we will look at what treatments are available for people with acute lymphocytic leukemia who have had a relapse.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia is considered the most aggressive leukemia because it is more likely to recur than other types of leukemia. In fact, even if one in two patients are treated, it is known to relapse. Patients who relapse are less likely to respond to the next treatment, so treatment is relatively more difficult than patients who do not.

Wards of Acute Leukemia Patients

Lymphocyte Leukemia Survival Rate 1

However, patients with recurrent acute lymphocyte leukemia can also be cured by using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a treatment that removes both cancer cells and hematopoietic stem cells from the patient's body through chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and then transplants the hematopoietic stem cells in a healthy person. There are two types of hematopoietic stem cell transplants, which transplant the hematopoietic stem cells of family members or others, and tautologous hematopoietic stem cell transplants, which transplant their own stem cells again.

Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Process

In order to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant after a relapse, you will need to be treated again to reach a ‘complete look 'condition where the leukemia cells disappear completely. However, some patients repeat pre-transplant treatments to reach complete recurrence. These patients need to increase the intensity of chemotherapy to prevent their response to treatment, which increases the risk of side effects.

Systemic Side Effects May Be Caused by Intensive Chemotherapy

In addition, the previously used chemotherapy attacks both the leukemia cells and the white blood cells of the patient, thereby increasing the likelihood that the patient will be infected with bacteria. Therefore, most patients who received chemotherapy before transplantation had to be treated in a clean room where external factors such as bacteria were completely blocked.


Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation ward, Seoul National University Hospital [photo = Seoul National University Hospital homepage
Not long ago, however, the number of patients treated in a clean room was significantly reduced. New drugs have emerged to ease the worry of side effects from relapsed patients, such as blinatumamob.

In particular, blinatumomab acts as a 'bridge' between immune cells and leukemia cells in patients with recurrent acute lymphocytic leukemia, helping immune cells effectively attack leukemia cells. Unlike previous anticancer treatments that attacked both leukemia cells and immune cells, they also had no effect on immune cells, reducing concerns about serious side effects.

Method of action of blinisito 2

Patients with recurrent acute lymphocytic leukemia have been able to reach complete remission quickly and prepare for transplantation with fewer side effects with new therapies such as blnatumab. Effective treatment also significantly reduces the risk of death for patients.

Comparison of Survival Time between Blinatumomab Treatment Patients and Chemotherapy Patients 3

Professor Seok Lee of the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital
In the past, treatments for patients with recurrent acute lymphocytic leukemia have been very limited with chemotherapy. Recently, however, a number of new drugs such as blinatumomab have been released. Especially, blinatumamob is a therapeutic agent that shows excellent safety and tolerability while helping immune cells to effectively attack leukemia cells but not directly affecting the immune cells themselves.