Background

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive type of leukemia, which requires early treatment; without treatment, most patients with acute leukemia would live only a few months. According to recent study, around 412,000 people worldwide are likely to be diagnosed with some type of leukemia, and ALL accounts for approximately 12% of all leukemia cases worldwide. The most classic treatment for B-cell ALL is chemotherapy to get the leukemia into complete remission. However, cancer related mortality rates are higher in older population due to toxicity complications associated with chemotherapy. If the leukemia is refractory – that is, if it doesn’t go away with the first treatment which happens in about 10% to 20% of patients) – then newer or