Historical aspects and milestones in the development of effective treatment for hairy cell leukemia

Martin S Tallman1, Aaron Polliack

  • 1Feinberg School of Medicine, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. m-tallman@northwestern.edu

Leukemia & Lymphoma
|October 10, 2009
PubMed

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, but is gratifying to treat for both physicians and patients. During the 50 years since its initial description as a clinical entity, hematologists have been fascinated by the bizarre appearance of the malignant cell with its hair-like projections. Therapeutic strategies have evolved from splenectomy to interfere to the purine analogues which have become the treatments of-choice and are very effective. Immunoconjugate Therapy with BL22 (anti-CD22 [corrected] antibody linked to truncated to Pseudomonas exotoxin) represents the newest milestone in the development of effective treatment for hairy cell leukemia.

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