Treatment of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: past, present, and future

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a peripheral T-cell malignancy caused by human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I. Clinical manifestations of ATLL range from smoldering to chronic, lymphoma and acute. Patients with acute and lymphoma type ATLL require therapeutic intervention. Conventional chemotherapeutic regimens used against other malignant lymphoma have been administered to ATLL patients, but the therapeutic outcomes of acute and lymphoma type ATLL remain very poor. Promising results of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) for ATLL patients have recently been reported and the treatment outcome might be improved for some ATLL patients. Besides conventional chemotherapy and SCT, interferon, zidovudine, arsenic trioxide, targeted therapy against surface molecule on ATLL cells, retinoid derivatives, and bortezomib have been administered to ATLL patients in pilot or phase I/II studies. Further studies are required to confirm the clinical benefits of these novel therapeutics. This article reviews the current status and future directions of ATLL treatment.