See Also: Acute promyelocytic leukemia(health)
acute promyelocytic leukaemia(medicine)
Acute leukemia(health)
Acute nonlymphocytic leukemia(health)
ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia)(health)
Acute myeloid leukemia(health)
Acute myelogenous leukemia(health)
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia(health)
Acute lymphocytic leukemia(health)
Common acute lymphocytic leukemia antigen(health)

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (health)


"Commonly called APL, a malignancy of the bone marrow in which there is a deficiency of mature blood cells in the myeloid line of cells and an excess of immature cells called promyelocytes. APL is due to a translocation (an exchange of chromosome material) between chromosomes 15 and 17 which is symbolized t(15;17). This translocation is not a mere marker of APL. It is the cause of APL. APL was first recognized as a distinct disease entity in 1957. It accounts for 5-10% of cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The peak incidence of APL is in young adults. APL is considered a type of AML and is classified as the M3 variant of AML in the internationally accepted French-American-British (FAB) Classification. "