The Promise of Pharmacogenomics in Reducing Toxicity During Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Maintenance Treatment.

ABSTRACT: Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) affects a substantial number of children every year and requires a long and rigorous course of chemotherapy treatments in three stages, with the longest phase, the maintenance phase, lasting 2-3years. While the primary drugs used in the maintenance phase, 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and methotrexate (MTX), are necessary for decreasing risk of relapse, they also have potentially serious toxicities, including myelosuppression, which may be life-threatening, and gastrointestinal toxicity. For both drugs, pharmacogenomic factors have been identified that could explain a large amount of the variance in toxicity between patients, and may serve as effective predictors of toxicity during the maintenance phase of ALL treatment. 6-MP toxicity is associated wi

SUBMITTER: Rudin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5414888 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature