Treatment of Classic Hairy Cell Leukemia: Targeting Minimal Residual Disease beyond Cladribine.

ABSTRACT: Classic hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare indolent B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by profound pancytopenia and frequent infectious complications due to progressive infiltration of the bone marrow and spleen. Lacking effective treatment options, affected patients were confronted with a dismal survival prognosis of less than 5 years when the disease was first described in 1958. Tremendous therapeutic advances were accomplished with the introduction of purine analogues such as cladribine in the 1990s, facilitating a near-normal life expectancy in most HCL patients. Nevertheless, nearly all patients eventually relapse and require successive retreatments, while drug-associated myelotoxicity may accumulate and secondary malignancies may evolve. Detection of minimal residual

SUBMITTER: Bohn JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8869886 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature