Contemporary Management of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Review

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal hematopoietic cancer that disrupts normal hematopoiesis, ultimately leading to bone marrow failure and death. The annual incidence rate of AML is 4.1 per 100 000 people in the US and is higher in patients older than 65 years. Acute myeloid leukemia includes numerous subgroups with heterogeneous molecular profiles, treatment response, and prognosis. This review discusses the evidence supporting frontline therapies in AML, the major principles that guide therapy, and progress with molecularly targeted therapy.

Acute myeloid leukemia is a genetically complex, dynamic disease. The most commonly altered genes include FLT3, NPM1, DNMT3A, IDH1, IDH2, TET2, RUNX1, NRAS, and TP53. The incidence of these alterations varies by patient age, history of antecedent hematologic cancer, and previous exposure to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy for any cancer. Since 2010, molecular data have been incorporated into AML prognostication, gradually leading to incorporation of targeted therapies into the initial treatment approach of induction chemotherapy and subsequent management. The first molecularly targeted inhibitor, midostaurin, was approved to treat patients with AML with FLT3 variants in 2017. Since then, the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of AML has expanded, allowing the identification of additional potential targets for drug therapy, treatment incorporation of molecularly targeted therapies (midostaurin, gilteritinib, and quizartinib targeting FLT3 variants; ivosidenib and olutasidenib targeting IDH1 variants, and enasidenib targeting IDH2), and identification of rational combination regimens. The approval of hypomethylating agents combined with venetoclax has revolutionized the therapy of AML in older adults, extending survival over monotherapy. Additionally, patients are now referred for hematopoietic cell transplant on a more rational basis.

In the era of genomic medicine, AML treatment is customized to the patient's comorbidities and AML genomic profile.