All-trans retinoic acid differentiation therapy
Terapia de diferenciación con ácido transretinoico
- Date
- 1985-1988 · confidence high
- Place
- Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China
- Credited to
- Wang Zhenyi
- People
- 👤 Wang Zhenyi1924–
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
All-trans retinoic acid makes acute promyelocytic leukaemia cells mature instead of killing them; in 1988 it achieved complete remission in 23 of 24 patients. It was the first success of differentiation therapy in cancer.
It built on in vitro work by Breitman (United States) and on collaboration with Laurent Degos (Paris).
What it led to
- transformation of APL into a curable leukaemia
- targeted therapies against fusion oncoproteins