Acute promyelocytic leukemia with t(15; 17) abnormality after chemotherapy containing etoposide for langerhans' cell histiocytosis

Background. Epipodophyllotoxins, etoposide and teniposide, have been shown to be implicated in the development of acute myelogenous leukemia in patients treated for solid tumors or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Etoposide has been shown to be an effective agent against Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and has gained wider use recently for first-line and salvage chemotherapy in cases of systemic LCH. Methods. The authors report two patients with secondary acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with a t(15;17) abnormality after chemotherapy that included etoposide for the treatment of LCH