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l-Asparaginase as the gold standard in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a comprehensive review

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Abstract

l-Asparaginase is an antileukemic drug long approved for clinical use to treat childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common cancer in this population worldwide. However, the efficacy and its use as a drug have been subject to debate due to the variety of adverse effects that patients treated with it present, as well as the prompt elimination in plasma, the need for multiple administrations, and high rates of allergic reactions. For this reason, the search for new, less immunogenic variants has long been the subject of study. This review presents the main aspects of the l-asparaginase enzyme from a structural, pharmacological, and clinical point of view, from the perspective of its use in chemotherapy protocols in conjunction with other drugs in the different treatment phases.

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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID) Fellowship No. 21210710 and the National Council for Scientifc and Technological Development (CNPq/Brazil, Fellowship # 301832/2017–0).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile

    María Tosta Pérez & Jorge G. Farías

  2. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Santo Tomas, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Lisandra Herrera Belén

  3. Precision Health Research Laboratory, Departamento de Procesos Diagnósticos y Evaluación, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco, Chile

    Pablo Letelier

  4. Department of Life Sciences, Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, London, UK

    Yolanda Calle

  5. Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Adalberto Pessoa

Authors
  1. María Tosta Pérez
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  2. Lisandra Herrera Belén
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  3. Pablo Letelier
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  4. Yolanda Calle
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  5. Adalberto Pessoa
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  6. Jorge G. Farías
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Contributions

María Tosta and Lisandra Herrera had the idea for the article; María Tosta, Pablo Letelier and Yolana Calle performed the literature search; Lisandra Herrera drafted the article, and Adalberto Pessoa and Jorge Farías critically revised the work.

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Correspondence to Jorge G. Farías.

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Tosta Pérez, M., Herrera Belén, L., Letelier, P. et al. l-Asparaginase as the gold standard in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a comprehensive review. Med Oncol 40, 150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-023-02014-9

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