Modern therapy of young and adult Ph-ALL

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults is currently associated with an overall survival rate of around 40% at 5 years. This is an unsatisfactory result that makes it imperative to dissect further the biology of the disease in order to identify highly specific therapeutic targets to implement selectively the cure rate. The recognition of discrete ALL subsets followed by the application of risk-oriented therapies has been a major achievement over the past 30 years.