Targeted Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

In adults, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains a disease, a poor prognosis with long-term disease free survival of only 40-45%. Several new targeted therapies are in development for patients with ALL. These include the use of antibody-drug conjugates targeting antigens expressed on the surface of the leukemic blasts, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the Philadelphia chromosome and the newly described Ph-like ALL subgroup, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Early results are promising with these approaches, and some of the drugs such as inotuzumab ozogamicin and blinatumomab are in phase III registration trials.