RARA and acute myeloid leukemia: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a biologically and clinically separate type of acute myeloid leukemia characterized by a translocation involving the retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RARa) locus on chromosome 17, the great majority of which is t(15; 17)(q24.1; q21.1) (Collins (1998), Melnick and Licht (1999), and Grimwade (1999)).