Recent Developments in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology is a relatively new field encompassing research in the unique pathophysiology, clinical care, and psychosocial issues facing patients between the ages of 15 and 40 with cancer. About 100,000 of the approximately 1.5 million people diagnosed annually with cancer in the USA are in this age range. This chapter will review notable new developments in the care of adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) within the last 3 years.

The preponderance of data favors the treatment of AYA ALL patients with pediatric-inspired treatment regimens due to better relapse-free and overall survival. Minimal residual disease (MRD) measurement is emerging as an important prognostic factor and can serve as a new measure of efficacy of the addition of novel therapies to the treatment of patients with new diagnoses. There have been several treatment advances ranging from new cytotoxic agents for ALL to new antibody-based therapy to novel immune therapies such as CAR-T cells. The care of AYA ALL patients is improving as the unique issues for this patient population are addressed.