Leukemia

The disease that I chose to present in class was leukemia. As I discussed in class, leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells and bone marrow. As with all cancers, there is uncontrolled growth among the affected cells in the body. Leukemia effects the white blood cells of the body. In a healthy person, the body produces white blood cells as the body needs them. When you get sick, more white blood cells are produced to try to fight off the foreign objects that are contributing to the illness.

With leukemia, the body produces a large number of abnormal white blood cells. This often leads to a lower number of healthy red blood cells and platelets contributing to the poor health of leukemia patients. Their bodies do not receive enough oxygen and they are weak and pale. They also bleed and bruise easily due to their lack of platelets and red blood cells. Other symptoms depend on the placement of leukemia in the patient’s body.

Mutations in the leukemic white blood cells do not allow them to function as healthy white blood cells. Until a leukemic patient receives treatment, this uncontrolled growth will continue to negatively impact their health. Treatments for this disease include chemotherapy to kill cancerous cells, stem cell transplants to overpower any remaining leukemic cells, and bone marrow transfusions to replace the affected bone marrow with a donor’s healthy marrow.

Disease Flowchart:

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This flowchart gives a visual representation of leukemia development at the cellular level. The first group of cells are normal, non-cancerous cells that are found in a healthy blood. The first hit on the cells is the chromosomal translocations leading to the preleukemic cells. The cells in this state are on their way to developing into Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) cells. The preleukemic cells then experience a second hit, as shown in the diagram. These mutations and signals develop the preleukemic cells into AML cells. As you can see in the figure, these cells coexist with healthy white blood cells in the initial stages of AML. After further development, the leukemic cells over-power the healthy cells and without treatment, the uncontrolled growth will continue.

1. **Name of disease:** Leukemia, also referred to as Leukaemia

2. **Root cause of disease:** Leukemia is caused by cellular mutations in healthy white blood cells cause changes in DNA that lead to over-powering and uncontrolled abnormal white blood cells that thrive in the body. 3. **Affected cell types/tissues/organs/systems:** The primary cell types affected are the white blood cells. The white blood cell mutations are the initial cause of the abnormal white blood cell growth. Bone marrow is also affected as this is where the abnormal white blood cell over-powering occurs. The circulatory system in general is affected due to the lower numbers of red blood cells and platelets that are also being over-powered by the mutated white blood cells.

4. **Historical background: (Include discoverer(s), famous victims, and** **any historical events linked to the disease)** Leukemia comes from the greek words “leukos” and “heima” meaning “white blood (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 2011).” The first diagnosis of leukemia was in 1845 by a European physician named John Hughes Benett (Greaves, 2000). The first case where a patient was completely cured was in 1970 and “by the 1980s and 1990s the cure rates for leukemia were around 70% (Pui, 2003). Singer Mary Travers of the 1960’s band Peter, Paul and Mary is a notable celebrity that lost her battle with leukemia in 2009.

5. **Common symptoms:** An early symptom of leukemia is leukopenia, an increased susceptibility to infection. Leukopenia is caused by the lack of healthy white blood cells as leukemic white blood cells begin to over-power the circulatory system. Thrombocytosis is an increase in bruising and bleeding caused by a lack of platelets seen in leukemic patients. Anemia is caused by a lack of red blood cells. As leukemic white blood cells begin to outnumber the healthy red blood cells, patients begin to feel weak and tired due to their anemia. Other symptoms depend on the location of leukemic cell build-up in the patient’s body. Enlarged lymph nodes, spleen, and liver are possible symptoms when build-up has occurred in those regions. Skin lesions are also common when the leukemic cells spread to the skin surface.

6. **Standard treatments:** Treatments for leukemia include chemotherapy to kill cancerous cells, stem cell transplants to overpower any remaining leukemic cells, and bone marrow transfusions to replace the affected bone marrow with a donor’s healthy marrow.

7. **Current research: (Please include reference citations here).** The method of stem cell transplants has been around for many years but new findings have found that a white blood cell donation in addition to a bone marrow donation from the same donor boosts the immune system in the leukemic patient (American Cancer Society, 2014). Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is also a new method for study in leukemic patients. PCR is used after chemotherapy to detect how many cancer cells exist among healthy cells (Mason & Griffiths, 2012). Antibodies are also being investigated as a method in leukemic patients. They are already used in the successful treatment of some other cancers (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 2011).

**8. References:** American Cancer Society (2014). “What’s new in acute myeloid leukemia research and treatment?” [|http://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemia-acutemyeloidaml/detailedguide/ leukemia-acute-myeloid-myelogenous-new-research]

Greaves, M. (2000). Cancer: The Evolutionary Legacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. (2011). Leukemia. [|http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/ all_page?item_id=7026]

Mason, J and M. Griffiths. (2012). PCR-based Techniques. Molecular Diagnoses of Leukemia.

Pui, C.H.. (2003). About Leukemia - Historical Perspectives: Childhood Leukemias. [| http://www.stjude.org/search/0,2616,582_3161_3786,00.html]