Chemotherapeutics for Acute Erythroid Leukemia: Research, Present and Future

Acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with features such as accumulation of maturation-arrested erythroblasts. Compared with AML, the progression of AEL is faster and the prognosis to available therapy is worse. However, its categorization is still being updated and the pathophysiology of AEL is still under research, making diagnosis and chemotherapy challenging for physicians. To achieve better outcomes, therapies should be optimized and new drugs should be developed. In this review, we summarize current strategies of diagnosis and therapies of AEL, and discuss prospective targets for chemotherapeutic agents based on the biological characteristics of AEL neoplastic cells as well as transcriptional factors and pathways related to erythroid differentiation.