Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a genetically, phenotypically, prognostically heterogeneous disease which has been treated with conventional chemotherapy and allogeneic stem cell transplantation until today. Recent advances in genomics and molecular biology have led to a greatly improved understanding of the pathophysiology, which enables a better classification, risk assessment and submicroscopic tracking of the disease. Following long term stagnation in the anti-leukemia drug development process, the clinical options are now changing fast with 8 new recently approved drugs. This includes therapies targeting molecular aberrations, anti-apoptotic pathways, surface antigens on leukemic cells and new pharmacokinetic compositions of classical cytostatic drugs. Integration of the new drugs into current treatment algorithms in order to offer a more personalized therapy will be a challenge. This approach hopefully enables to cure more AML patients, as well as to prolong their life expectancy and life quality. We are looking forward to see the upcoming discoveries.