An overview of Leukemia Cancer

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormalblood cells.

Your bone marrow, where the majority of your body's blood is produced, is where thisexcessive growth occurs. White blood cells that are immature or still developing aretypically leukemia cells. The term leukemia comes from the Greek words for “white”(leukos) and “blood” (haima).

Usually, leukemia affects white blood cells. Your white blood cells are effectiveinfection-fighting agents; they typically grow and divide in an organized manner asrequired by your body. Yet, the bone marrow creates an overwhelming number ofaberrant, poorly functioning white blood cells in those with leukemia.

Doctors classify leukemia based on its speed of progression and the type of cellsinvolved.

Acute leukemia : Immature blood cells are the aberrant blood cells in acuteleukemia (blasts). Because they swiftly multiply and are unable to do their regularduties, the condition quickly gets worse. Treatment for acute leukemia must beaggressive and prompt.

Chronic leukemia : The many forms of chronic leukemia are diverse. Sometrigger the production of either too few or too many cells. More advanced bloodcells are involved in chronic leukemia. For a while, these blood cells can continueto operate normally despite their slower rate of replication or accumulation.Initially, certain types of chronic leukemia don't show any symptoms, and they mightgo unreported or untreated for years.

The second type of classification is by type of white blood cell affected:

Lymphocytic leukemia : The lymphocytes, or lymphoid cells, that make uplymphoid or lymphatic tissue are impacted by this type of leukemia. The immunesystem is composed of lymphatic tissue.

Myelogenous leukemia : Myeloid cells are affected by this form of leukemia.Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelet-producing cells all develop frommyeloid cells.

The major types of leukemia are:

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). : This is the most common type of leukemiain young children. ALL can also occur in adults.

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) : AML is a common type of leukemia. It occursin children and adults. AML is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) : With CLL, the most common chronic adultleukemia, you may feel well for years without needing treatment.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) : This type of leukemia mainly affectsadults. A person with CML may have few or no symptoms for months or years beforeentering a phase in which the leukemia cells grow more quickly.

Other types : Other, rarer types of leukemia exist, including hairy cellleukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative disorders.

The DNA of one cell in your bone marrow alters to cause leukemia to develop(mutates). The "instruction code" for a cell's growth, development, and demise isfound in its DNA. The mutation, or coding error, causes leukemia cells to continueto proliferate. The DNA of the original mutant cell is present in all cells thatdevelop from it.

Scientists don’t know what causes these developing cells to mutate. They’ve been ableto identify some common mutations that people diagnosed with different types ofleukemia share.

Different types of leukemia can cause different problems. You might not notice anysigns in the early stages of some forms. When you do have symptoms, they mayinclude:

1. Weakness or fatigue

2. Bruising or bleeding easily

3. Fever or chills

4. Infections that are severe or keep coming back

5. Pain in your bones or joints

6. Headaches

7. Vomiting

8. Seizures

9. Weight loss

10. Night sweats

11. Swollen lymph nodes or organs like your spleen

12. Shortness of breath

Anyone can develop leukemia. Still, studies have shown that certain factors mayincrease your risk, including:

Previous cancer treatment : People who've had certain types of chemotherapyand radiation therapy for other cancers have an increased risk of developing certaintypes of leukemia.

Genetic disorders : Genetic abnormalities seem to play a role in thedevelopment of leukemia. Certain genetic disorders, such as Down syndrome, areassociated with an increased risk of leukemia.

Exposure to certain chemicals : Exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene— which is found in gasoline and is used by the chemical industry — is linked to anincreased risk of some kinds of leukemia.

Family history of leukemia : If members of your family have been diagnosedwith leukemia, your risk of the disease may be increased.

Smoking : Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of acute myelogenous leukemia.

Blood tests : A complete blood count (CBC) looks at the number and maturity ofdifferent types of blood cells. A blood smear looks for unusual or immature cells.

Bone marrow biopsy : This test involves marrow taken from your pelvic bonewith a long needle. It can tell your doctor what kind of leukemia you have and howsevere it is.

pinal tap : This involves fluid from your spinal cord. It can tell your doctorwhether the leukemia has spread.

Imaging tests : Things like CT, MRI, and PET scans can spot signs of leukemia.

Treatments for leukemia depend on the type of leukemia you have, your age and overallhealth, and if the leukemia has spread to other organs or tissues.

Common treatments often include a combination of the following:

Chemotherapy : The most popular method of treating leukemia is chemotherapy.It entails the use of chemicals to eradicate leukemia cells or prevent theirregrowth. You might be given the drugs (medicine) intravenously, as a shot beneathyour skin, or as a pill during treatment. You'll often receive a cocktail ofchemotherapy medications.

Immunotherapy (biologic therapy) : To combat leukemia, this treatment usescertain medications to strengthen your immune system. Your immune system can betterrecognize cancer cells and make more immune cells to combat them with the aid ofimmunotherapy.

Targeted therapy : In this procedure, medications are used to target specificleukemia cell components (such as a protein or gene) that are causing them tooutnumber healthy blood cells. Targeted treatments may stop leukemia cells fromproliferating, cut off their blood supply, or directly destroy the cells. Targetedtherapy has a lower risk of damaging healthy cells. Drugs used in targeted therapyinclude tyrosine kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies.

Radiation therapy : Strong energy beams or X-rays are used in this procedureto either destroy leukemia cells or limit their growth. A machine uses radiation toeither cover your entire body with radiation during therapy or precisely target thelocations in your body where the cancer cells are. Before a hematopoietic celltransplant, your body may be exposed to radiation.

Hematopoietic cell transplant (stem cell or bone marrow transplant) : Withthis therapy, new, healthy hematopoietic cells are used to replace the malignantblood-forming cells that chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy killed. Before chemoand radiation, your healthcare professional may take these healthy cells from yourblood or bone marrow, or they may come from a donor. Your body needs red bloodcells, white blood cells, and platelets, which are created when healthy new cellsgrow and make new bone marrow and blood cells.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy : The T-cells (also known as Tlymphocytes) your body produces to combat infections are taken out of your body,modified to target leukemia cells, and then put back into your body.