Page 6 - Leukaemia
What is leukaemia and what causes leukaemia?
What is leukaemia?
Leukaemia- Leukaemia is a type of cancer . Cancer is a group of many related diseases. 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. Your white blood cells are potent infection fighters they normally grow and divide in an orderly way, as your body needs them. But in leukemia, your bone marrow produces a large number of abnormal white blood cells, which don't function properly. Leukaemia isn't just a children's disease. It has four main types and many subtypes and only some are common among children. The 4 main types of leukaemia are as follows: Acute lymphocytic leukaemia Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia Acute myelocytic leukaemia Chronic myelocytic leukaemia
Sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. Leukaemia is cancer that begins in blood cells. It is a cancer of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. These deranged, immature cells accumulate in the blood and within organs of the body. They are not able to carry out the normal functions of blood cells. Normal blood contains 3 major groups of cells: white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. All 3 types of blood cells develop from one immature cell type, called blood/marrow stem cells, in a process called haematopoiesis. In some individuals, leukocytes are so numerous that the blood actually has a whitish tinge. When abnormal and immature white blood cells are produced, production of normal cells decreases and the ability to fight infection decreases. The ability to fight infection decreases because the leukemic cells accumulate and lessen the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, blood-clotting cells (platelets), and normal leukocytes.
What causes leukaemia?
No one knows the exact causes of leukaemia. Doctors can seldom explain why one person gets leukaemia and another does not. However, research has shown that people with certain leukaemia risk factors are more likely than others to develop this disease. A leukaemia risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease. Some other causes of leukaemia: Translocations are another type of DNA abnormality involved in developing leukaemia. Human DNA is packaged in 23 pairs of chromosomes. A translocation means that some of the DNA from one chromosome becomes attached to a different chromosome. Like mutations, translocations can turn on oncogenes or turn off tumour suppressor genes. Translocations that develop during life are quite common in chronic leukaemia. Different types of leukaemia typically have translocations that affect different chromosomes.
Exposure to very high levels of radiation Working with certain chemicals Receiving chemotherapy Having Down syndrome and other genetic conditions Having human T-cell leukaemia virus-1 (HTLV-1) Having myelodysplastic syndrome. Smoking and tobacco use. Being exposed to certain chemicals in the workplace. Past chemotherapy or radiation for another cancer. (This is rare, and not all chemotherapies raise your leukaemia risk.)
