All About Leukemia

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical practice. The word Ayurveda comes from the two words Ayu meaning life and Veda meaning science. Ayurveda means science of life, and Ayurvedic medicine is a combination of physical, psychological and spiritual therapies. It makes use of the body’s ability to heal itself through alignment of the energy structure that makes the physical body live. It makes use of herbs that stimulate or ameliorate certain essences in the body like the air or nervous system, water or mucuous, and fire or energy. One of the diseases that Ayurveda claims to cure is Leukemia, or cancer of the blood that is believed in Ayurveda to be caused by improper digestion and distribution of essences.

Alternative treatments are called ‘alternative’ because it is outside of Western medical practice. These include herbal medicines, meditation, prayer, massage, chiropractic among others. These kinds of treatments are usually taken by patients who either have no faith or have lost hope in conventional treatments. These alternative treatments have the assumption that there is a connectedness between the body and nature and the power of the mind can heal the body’s illness. Techniques are used so that the patient will be healed through the forces of nature, alignment of the energy system of the body, and positive thinking. Though these methods aren’t proven to be truly effective, trying these are not a hindrance for those in need to restore their health.

In radiation therapy, rays are fired so that they burn disease tissue but it is done at various angles to avoid damaging healthy tissues. This can cure but also there are risks involved with radiation. Chemotherapy makes use of drugs to kill fast-growing cells such as cancer cells. However because there are a lot of other fast-growing cells in the body like immune system cells and hair cells, these will also be affected and the patient will suffer hair loss, infections and diseases. Surgery is cutting away the diseased part of the body, but if you cut the body part it won’t grow back and chances are, the disease will still spread. But let’s keep in mind that these treatments, though there are bad sides to it, can increase the chances of recovery.

Linings of the mouth and throat may also be injured, resulting to mucositis. This is caused by medications taken after bone marrow transplant. It is painful and patient may find it hard to eat and drink. This is treated with pain medications, and the patient is given intravenous infusion for a source of nutrients, and to avoid dehydration.

Graft-versus-host disease is the transplanted cell’s reaction to its new environment. Areas of the body that is commonly affected are the skin, liver and the digestive system. A benefit of this complication is the graft-versus-tumor effect, where the donor’s natural killer cells react against the cancer cells.

There are two methods of transplanting a healthy bone marrow to a patient: autologous and allogeneic.

Antalogous HSCT takes haematopoietic stem cells from the patient and is stored in a freezer. Then the patient undergoes chemotherapy to get rid of the patient’s cancer cells. Then the stored stem cells will be returned to the patient’s body. Advantages of this method include lower risk of graft rejection and occurrence of graft-versus-host-disease. Disadvantage include a higher probability of relapse.

Allogeneic HSCT takes healthy stem cells from a healthy donor and is transplanted to the patient. In this case, the donor must undergo several tests to see if his tissue type matches with the patient.

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