Advances in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy

Progress in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment has been met with challenge until recently. A steady improvement in outcomes is being witnessed among adults with ALL, and it will be enhanced further with early referral of newly diagnosed ALL patients to specialized centers, enrolling more ALL adults in clinical trials, adopting pediatric-inspired ALL regimens in younger adults, tailoring treatments according to minimal residual disease response and disease genetics, incorporating novel therapies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors in frontline regimens, early referral to transplant when indicated, expanding the donor pool, and developing more effective salvage therapies for relapsed/refractory ALL. In this review, we will discuss the most significant advances in treating adult ALL observed in the last five years that have the potential to enhance adult ALL treatment and outcome.