Erwinia asparaginase: coming closer to an understanding of its use in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia?

摘要

Asparaginase as an anticancer drug was discovered in 1953 and introduced into clinical care in the 1960s. It was quickly established that asparaginase showed good clinical efficacy in hematological diseases and it became a component of remission induction therapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas of childhood in the 1970s. For pediatric ALL, it remains a key component of therapy for remission induction and post-remission therapy [1]. Despite greater than 40 years of clinical trials evaluating dose, dosing schedules and number of doses, the optimal use of asparaginase continues to be studied as a key component of ALL therapy and is a key randomized question in large therapeutic clinical trials for children with ALL.