BCL2 and acute myeloid leukemia: Thus, whilst it is the case that Bcl-2 family proteins have a significant influence on the response of AML to chemotherapy, at least in an ex-vivo environment [32], one might anticipate that targeting Bcl-2 specifically would be useful primarily to reduce peripheral white blood cell counts in patients with significant leukocytosis and consequently delay the progression and severity of the disease.