Clinical Efficacy of ATRA for Adult T-Cell Leukemia

We previously reported that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) inhibited growth in HTLV-I- positive T-cell lines and fresh cells from patients with adult T-cell leukemia. We here confirmed the clinical effects of ATRA in 20 patients with ATL. Twenty patients (n=20) with median age of 56 years (range 35–68 years) diagnosed with ATL received ATRA orally. ATRA was administered for a median of 25.7 days (range 14–56 days). Efficacy was described below; no CR case, PR case was 55%, NR case was 45%. In 7 acute cases, PR case was 4 (20%) and NR case was 3 (15%). In 3 lymphoma cases, no NR case and 3 PR cases (15%) was found. In 4 chronic cases, PR case was 1 (4%) and NR case was 3 (15%). In 6 skin type. PR case was 3 (15 %) and NR case was 3 (15%). Major side effects were headache (n=5), transient liver dysfunction (n=2), hyperlipidemia (n=2) and anorexia (n=1). No major toxicity was observed. These results indicated that ATRA might be a useful agent for skin involvement of ATL with safety.