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Clinical activity of arsenic trioxide in Burkitt-like lymphoma

Leukemia volume 17, pages 271–272 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

Small non-cleaved cell lymphomas (SNCL) as coined initially by Lukes and Collins and as used in the Working Formulation encompass Burkitt's lymphomas and non-Burkitt (Burkitt-like) lymphomas. The treatment of SNCLs involves combination chemotherapy consisting of intensive doses of alkylating agents (such as cyclophosphamide) given together with other agents including anthracyclines, vincristine, methotrexate and ara-C. With these regimens, overall survival rates of 80% to 90% have been reported.1,2 The cure rate for patients with mature B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a closely related disorder, is in the range of 40–60%.3 Patients with recurrent disease have a poor prognosis. A small number of these patients respond to salvage regimens followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Therefore, exploration of agents with alternative and specific modes of action, for example by targeting the protein product of the c-myc proto-oncogene, may provide us with more effective therapies.

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  1. The University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA

    F Ravandi & K van Besien

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Ravandi, F., van Besien, K. Clinical activity of arsenic trioxide in Burkitt-like lymphoma. Leukemia 17, 271–272 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402735

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