[Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Therapeutic aspects]

Abstract

CONVENTIONAL CHEMOTHERAPY: Complete remission of aggressive ATL (acute or lymphomatous forms) can be achieved in about 40% of the patients with conventional chemotherapy, but early relapse and infectious complications is the rule. For painless and chronic ATL, chemotherapy does not appear to be useful and can aggravate the immunodepression.

New therapeutic approaches: Encouraging results have been obtained with a combination regimen using an antiretroviral agent (AZT) and interferon alpha. Response rate has been high with good tolerance. In responders, the survival rate is better than with conventional chemotherapy.

Perspectives: The success of a potentially antiretroviral approach for the treatment of this generally chemoresistant disease suggests that HTLV-1 virus could have a continuous effect on in vivo leukomogenesis.