Acute and Persistent Remission of Aggressive Natural Killer Cell Leukemia in an Older Patient Induced by Chidamide Combined with Cyclophosphamide, Vindesine, Prednisone, and Etoposide Therapy

Abstract

Aggressive natural killer cell leukemia (ANKL) is a fulminant disease with a median overall survival of 2 months [1,2]. Although induction therapy with an L-asparaginase-based combined chemotherapy regimen followed by allogeneic hematologic stem cell transplantation improves clinical survival, the overall success of this approach appears rather limited [3,4]. This limitation is even more pronounced in older patients who are unable to tolerate intensive chemotherapy. Histone deacetylase inhibitors have been identified by Dufva et al. [5] as ideal drug candidates in the management of ANKL. Here we report a case of an older patient with ANKL who was treated successfully with chidamide combined with conventional chemotherapy with no significant toxicity arising.