%0 Journal Article
%T Pediatric AML: From Biology to Clinical Management
%A Jasmijn D. E. de Rooij
%A C. Michel Zwaan
%A Marry van den Heuvel-Eibrink
%J Journal of Clinical Medicine
%P 127-149
%D 2015
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/jcm4010127
%X Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) represents 15%¨C20% of all pediatric acute leukemias. Survival rates have increased over the past few decades to ~70%, due to improved supportive care, optimized risk stratification and intensified chemotherapy. In most children, AML presents as a de novo entity, but in a minority, it is a secondary malignancy. The diagnostic classification of pediatric AML includes a combination of morphology, cytochemistry, immunophenotyping and molecular genetics. Outcome is mainly dependent on the initial response to treatment and molecular and cytogenetic aberrations. Treatment consists of a combination of intensive anthracycline- and cytarabine-containing chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation in selected genetic high-risk cases or slow responders. In general, ~30% of all pediatric AML patients will suffer from relapse, whereas 5%¨C10% of the patients will die due to disease complications or the side-effects of the treatment. Targeted therapy may enhance anti-leukemic efficacy and minimize treatment-related morbidity and mortality, but requires detailed knowledge of the genetic abnormalities and aberrant pathways involved in leukemogenesis. These efforts towards future personalized therapy in a rare disease, such as pediatric AML, require intensive international collaboration in order to enhance the survival rates of pediatric AML, while aiming to reduce long-term toxicity.
%K pediatric AML
%K clinical management
%K cytogenetics
%K molecular aberrations
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/4/1/127