[New strategy for diagnosis and treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia with t (15;17)].

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-therapy against acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is epoch-making in the sense of the first success in both tumor-differentiation therapy and molecule-targeted therapy. Kouseishou APL-study group performed three clinical studies to refractory APL with ATRA from 1990 to 1993. Complete remission (CR) was obtained in 82%, 88% and 78% of 22, 41 and 46 patients, respectively. Molecular diagnosis of the t (15;17) translocation was possible using Southern blot analysis and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).