Leukemia cell...
Leukemia is a cancer of blood forming cells in the bone marrow. These deranged cells accumulate in the blood and within the organs of the body. These leukemia cells are not able to carry out the normal functions of the blood cells.
Normal blood cells contain 3 groups of cells, the white blood corpuscles, red blood corpuscles and platelets. All these three blood cells develop from one immature cell type called bone marrow stem cells and this process is called hematopoiesis. There are four main types of leukemia and they are:
- Acute lymphocytic leukemia
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- Acute myelocytic leukemia
- Chronic myelocytic leukemia
Hairy cell leukemia: This is a chronic type of lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Hairy cell leukemia is a slow growing malignant disorder that affects the white blood cells called the lymphocytes. This leukemia is called hairy cell leukemia because the leukemic lymphocytes have short thin projections from the surface that appear like hair when examined under a microscope. These hairy cells accumulate in the bone marrow and spleen and also the lymph nodes. The accumulation of these leukemic lymphocytes in the bone marrow prevents the production of normal blood cells by the marrow.
Plasma cell leukemia: This is a rare disease associated with very poor survival ratio using standard treatment. Patients affected by Plasma cell leukemia are generally treated aggressively by chemotherapy and autologous CD34. Molecular studies confirmed the presence of minimal residual disease, despite the absence of the plasma cell leukemia activity. Selected patients who are suffering from this disease have to undergo high dose chemotherapy, depending upon the impact.
Pictures used in diagnosing leukemia: There are various laboratory tests conducted to diagnose leukemia such as Cytochemistry, Flow cytometry, Immumocytochemistry, Cytogenetics and Molecular genetic studies.
Imaging studies is done based on the Chest x-rays, Ultrasound, computed tomography, MRI scans and Gallium scans.
Computed tomography is a test that helps to find out whether a patient’s leukemia is spread to the liver or other organs. This is a procedure, where instead of taking one picture, as does a conventional x-ray, a CT scanner takes many pictures as it rotates. The computer then combines these pictures into an image.
Human leukemia cell: On account of the limited availability of human tissues, leukemia cell lines are often utilized as the models for human leukocytes. China was the first country to allow first stem cell injection into clinical tests. Professor Zhao Chunhua, the principal investigator for cellular therapy research at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences states that the new stem cell transplant therapy with mesenchymal stem cell is different from the traditional bone marrow transplantation.
Serum plasma specimens from 252 patients with lymphoid malignancies were sceened for reactivity with adult T-cell leukemia virus associated antigen and the relationship was determined. Anti-ATLA antibodies were found in 24 of 82 patients with T-cell malignancy. These results suggest that anti-ATLA positive T-cell malignancies with OKT4-positive mature T cell phenotype are the same disease, because they have the same etiology and the same cellular origin.