Arsenic trioxide for acute promyelocytic leukaemia
Trióxido de arsénico contra la leucemia promielocítica aguda
- Date
- 1971-1996 · confidence medium
- Place
- Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang, China
- Credited to
- Zhang Tingdong and Han Taiyun (Harbin); Chen Zhu and Chen Saijuan (Shanghai)
- People
- 👤 Chen Saijuan1951–👤 Chen Zhu1953–👤 Zhang Tingdong1932–2025
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Building on a folk remedy, doctors in Harbin identified arsenic trioxide as the active agent against acute promyelocytic leukaemia; its mechanism was explained in Shanghai in 1996. It is now part of the standard treatment.
What it led to
- treatment of APL without chemotherapy
- cure of more than 90% of cases when combined with all-trans retinoic acid