Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequent cancer in children. Despite remarkable improvement in the prognosis of childhood ALL over the past few decades, the treatment of relapsed ALL is still challenging. The prognosis of first ALL relapse is associated with time of relapse after initial therapy, sites of relapse, and immunophenotype. More recently, response to treatment, which is evaluated by assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD), has been found to be clinically significant in relapsed ALL as well as in the initially diagnosed disease. Utilizing these factors, risk-oriented treatment stratification for first ALL relapse has been established. In the standard-risk group for first ALL relapse, intensification of conventional ALL-type therapy can provide a cure in approximately 70% of patients. It is important to assess MRD after reinduction therapy to determine the indications for stem cell transplantation in the standard-risk group. In contrast, no standardized therapy has been established for the high-risk group, which accounts for more than half of relapsed ALL patients. Recent studies have shed light on the clonal origin of relapsed ALL, which usually exists as a minor subclone at the time of initial diagnosis. Clonal selection and evolution take place during chemotherapy, resulting in distinct genetic and epigenetic characteristics of relapsed ALL, some of which are linked to drug resistance, a common and problematic feature of ALL after relapse. To overcome resistance to standard ALL-type therapy, and considering the heterogeneous biological background of high-risk relapsed ALL, innovative therapies using new agents are necessary.Key words acute lymphoblastic leukemia, children, relapse.Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequent malignant disease in children. Over the past few decades, marked improvement in treatment of childhood ALL has been achieved via better understanding of tumor biology and progress of supportive therapy. The cure rate of childhood ALL in developed countries is now 85-90%, 1-3 and childhood ALL represents a success model in cancer therapy. A total of 10-15% of patients with childhood ALL, however, do relapse. ALL after relapse is no longer a manageable disease. Because of its dominance in childhood cancers, relapsed ALL is still the main cause of cancer death in children. 4 Unlike the progress in the treatment of initial-diagnosis pediatric ALL, the prognosis of relapsed ALL has not improved over the years.5 A systematic approach, however, made mainly by study groups in Europe and North America, has established clinical prognostic factors that enabled the development of risk-oriented therapy for relapsed ALL. 6 Response to therapy, as measured by assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD), has been found to have clinical significance in the treatment stratification of ALL after relapse as well as for the initially diagnosed disease. 7 Using such an approach, standardized therapy for lower-risk ALL relapse is being established. Recent progres...