Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a genetically pleiomorphic disease. During recent years therapeutic and diagnostic developments have shifted the paradigm of “one size fits all” treatment to more targeted and personalized therapeutic strategies. Gene mutations and expression abormalities as well as minimal residual disease monitoring may exert profound effects on therapeutic and clinical decision making. In stem cell transplantation open questions remain on the long-term outcome of peripheral blood versus bone marrow stem cell transplantation as well as of reduced-intensity conditioning protocols. This article highlights the recent developments in both fields, AML and clinical transplantation, presented at the 2008 ASH meeting in San Francisco.