Progress in Transplants for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Hematopoietic cell transplants are used to treat some adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, especially those with high-risk features, such as those with BCR::ABL1. This strategy may be changing given the safety and efficacy of modern tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Although these transplants are often successful, leukemia relapse remains the dominant cause of transplant failure. There are several approaches to this problem discussed by the authors of a recent article in the journal. The good news is therapy of recurrent leukemia posttransplant seems increasingly successful and for diverse reasons, survival is increasing substantially. See related article by Bazarbachi et al., p. 1004.