A new approach to high risk pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia?

Advances in our understanding of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) disease biology and optimized chemotherapeutic regimens, as well as bone marrow transplantation, have resulted in pediatric ALL changing from a disease with an almost universally fatal outcome 50 years ago, to one in which the expectation is cure in 2016. Unfortunately, there remain a sub-group of children who still do poorly due to the refractory nature of the disease from identifiable high-risk genetic features or from relapsed disease. For these children, identifying novel therapeutic approaches is a priority.