All-trans-retinoic acid (RA) treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cases expressing the t(15;17) product, PML/RARalpha, is a successful example of differentiation therapy.
APLs with PML-RARalpha or PLZF-RARalpha fusion protein differ only in their response to retinoic acid (RA) treatment: the t(15;17) (PML-RARalpha-positive) APL blasts are sensitive to RA in vitro, and patients enter disease remission after RA treatment, while those with t(11;17) (PLZF-RARalpha-positive) APLs do not.
Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), associated with chromosomal translocations involving the retinoic acid receptor alpha gene (RARA) and the PML gene, is sensitive to retinoic acid (RA) treatment, while APL patients harbouring translocations between RARA and the PLZF gene do not respond to RA.