All About Leukemia

People who live in areas where drilling for natural gas is underway should be aware that the current practice of the drilling industry releases dangerous levels of the cancerous chemical benzene into the water table. Benzene is a colorless, sweet smelling and highly toxic. Considered to be the highest cause of leukemia and some forms of cancer, it was even used as an odorant in the early 1900’s due to the sweet smell. Absorbed into the body in large enough quantities can be fatal and long term exposure has it absorbed into the cells causing DNA to mutate resulting in many forms of cancer. It is widely used as an industrial chemical and is vital for the manufacture of most plastics, it has been recently found in soft drinks and computer casings resulting in several checks by the USFDA and other agencies around the world.

写真提供: medicineworld.org

白血病には、様々な治療法と病期があります。 その一つに、化学療法と放射線療法の組み合わせがあり、その治療法は導入と呼ばれます。 それは異常細胞が骨髄の中で形成されるのをストップする治療で、大体一ヶ月効果があり、もし目標が達成されない場合は、再度行う事が出来ます。 強化療法は別の病期です。これは白血病が血液テストや骨髄検査で血液中に見られなくても、体内になお潜んでいる可能性があるため、継続される治療です。 維持療法は、数年間、弱めの療法を継続する事により、白血病のない骨髄を維持することです。 定期健診が必要とされ、再発病を発見したり、治療の副作用を管理します。 再発期は、骨髄が異常細胞を再び作り出す時期をいいます。 それは治療中いつでも起こり、また治療が終了して何年も経ってから起こる事もあります。

Image Source: images.encarta.msn.com

Hairy Cell Leukemia is a chronic disease, which will never totally disappear once you acquire it. It is a rare condition often described as a slow growing cancer of the blood. The bone marrow is abnormally producing too much lymphocytes or B cells. This white blood cell is responsible for fighting infection. The surplus B cells looks hairy when you view it in the microscope, that’ how it got its name. The hairy part is actually the villi or the fine projections from the cell’s surface. As the abnormality increases, lesser healthy white blood cells, RBC and platelets are made. Men are said to be more prone to having this disease than women do. Its only limited to adults. Children and teenagers are not prone to this sickness. The cause of the disease is yet to be known and treatment can just lead to remission. It is not curable yet.

イメージ提供: media1.suburbanchicagonews.com

全てのがんは、血液や他の組織を作る細胞から生まれます。 通常細胞は、人体の必要に応じて分裂し成長します。 細胞が古くなったとき、新しい細胞が取って代わります。 しかし白血病になると、新しい細胞が必要なときに供給されず、古い細胞が死ななければならない時にが死にません。 白血病は血液細胞から発症するがんです。 白血病の確固たる原因はまだ明らかになっていませんが、その危険が高まる要素があります。

高いレベルの放射能にさらされると、他の人に比べて白血病の危険性が高まります。 ある特定の化学物質にさらされることも、白血病を起こす原因になりかねます。 抗がん剤の治療を受けたがん患者も白血病を発症する危険があります。 染色体の異常によって引き起こされるダウン症、特定の遺伝病およびいくつかはその危険を高める可能性がある。 人間のT細胞のI白血病のウィルス(HTLV-I)-このウィルスにより、稀なタイプであるT細胞の白血病として知られる慢性リンパ球性白血病を引き起こします。 しかしながら、白血病は伝染するものではありません。
骨髄異形成症候群の人々は、急性骨髄性白血病を発祥する危険性が高です。
白血病のリスク負っている人はほとんど発病していません。 言い換えれば、危険要素に全く関係ない人が発病しています。 白血病の危険性があると思う人、またはがん家系の人は、そのことについて医師と相談することをお勧めします。 医師は、その危険を減らすための提案、また、検診などのスケジュールを案内してくれます。

Image Source: medicineworld.org

Leukemia has various treatment and stages. One of it is a combination of chemotherapy and radiation and medications are called induction. It is the process of abnormal cells to stop being made in the bone marrow and May last approximately one month and can be repeated if the goal is not achieved. Intensification is another stage; it is continued treatment even though leukemia may not be visible in blood test or bone marrow examination but possible that they are still present in the body. Maintenance is the stage that maintains leukemia-free bone marrow by continuing less intense chemotherapy several years. Regular visits to the doctor are required to detect recurrent disease and manage any side effects of the treatment. Relapse stage is when the bone marrow begins making abnormal cells again. It can occur during any of the stages of treatment, or years after treatment have ended.

Image Source: media1.suburbanchicagonews.com

All cancers begin in cells, which make up blood and other tissues. Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place. But with Leukemia the new cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. Leukemia is cancer that begins in blood cells. No one knows the exact causes of leukemia but there are certain factors that can put people at risk.

People who are at risk of having leukemia are those exposed to very high levels of radiation are much more likely to develop leukemia than others. Exposure to high levels of certain chemicals in the workplace can cause leukemia. Cancer patients treated with certain cancer-fighting drugs sometimes later develop leukemia. Down syndrome and certain other genetic diseases and some caused by abnormal chromosomes may increase the risk as well. Human T-cell leukemia virus-I (HTLV-I)—This virus causes a rare type of chronic lymphocytic leukemia known as human T-cell leukemia. However, leukemia does not appear to be contagious.
People with Myelodysplastic syndrome is at increased risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia.
Most people who have known risk factors do not get leukemia. On the other hand, many who do get the disease have none of these risk factors. People who think they may be at risk of leukemia or has a background of cancer in the family should discuss this concern with their doctor. The doctor may suggest ways to reduce the risk and can plan an appropriate schedule for checkups.

Image Source: www.upload.wikimedia.org

The term leukemia refers to cancers of the white blood cells, which are also referred to as leukocytes or WBCs. When a child has leukemia, large numbers of abnormal white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal white cells crowd the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream, but they cannot perform their proper role of protecting the body against disease because they are defective.

As leukemia progresses, the cancer interferes with the body’s production of other types of blood cells, including red blood cells and platelets. This results in anemia (low numbers of red cells) and bleeding problems, in addition to the increased risk of infection caused by white cell abnormalities.

As a group, leukemias account for about 25% of all childhood cancers and affect about 2,200 American young people each year.

Luckily, the chances for a cure are very good with leukemia. With treatment, most children with leukemia are free of the disease without it coming back. In general, leukemias are classified into acute (rapidly developing) and chronic (slowly developing) forms. In children, about 98% of leukemias are acute.

Gene therapy treats genetic diseases of the immune system, and has successfully treated patients. They were infused with immune cells that contained the correct form of the defective gene through agents called retroviral vectors. But later on, some of the patients developed leukemia, which slowed the advancement of gene therapy. Studies have been done to determine the underlying cause of leukemia, and whether other gene therapy treatments are risky. A new study revealed that early precursors of immune cells with the gene HOXB4 using the agent gammaretroviral vector became leukemic in two out of two dogs and one out of two macaques.

(source)

Findings from two large, international clinical trials show unparalleled survival for patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer of the blood-making cells of the bone marrow.

The findings demonstrate that with Revlimid, an oral cancer drug, all measures of myeloma showed significant improvement in patients where previous treatments had failed.

Rush University Medical Center took part in the U.S. study, where a total of 353 patients were studied. According to the study results, patients who received Revlimid had a median survival of 29.6 months, compared to 20.2 months for the placebo group. In the Revlimid group, 61 percent of patients responded to therapy as compared with 19.9 percent in the placebo group.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone with increasing incidence among younger patients in the recent years. Up to this day, there is no known cure for multiple myeloma.

(Source)

Good news for those who need treatments for leukemia: new research reveals that Parthenolide, a compound present in the Feverfew plant, could kill leukemia stem cells without harming healthy blood cells. It was found out that after 18 hours, leukemia cells exposed to Parthenolide was destroyed. This is better than Cytaribine, a common drug used in chemotherapy, because Cytaribine is known to decrease blood cells within the bone marrow. Parthenolide may also make cancerous cells more sensitive to cancer-fighting agents so that destruction of these may be speeded up. With a little modification and testing, it would be an effective cure against this dreaded disease.