Cancer

Research
Project

Topic: Blood Forming

(Leukemia)

By: William Rivera Del Carpio

Period: 3
February 16, 2016
 CANCER DESCRIPTION AND
CELL CHARICTERIZATION
Leukemia is a type of cancer that attacks the early blood forming cells,

mainly white blood cells. There is said to be two types of leukemia which are

the acute, meaning rapidly growing, and chronic, which stands for slowly

progressing. Most of the cases that target the youth are said to be acute

rather than chronic and it is the fourth most common cancer in children.

However, half of the cases are within people 60 or older. The cancer begins

in the bone marrow, which is the sponge tissue found in bones of the body,

and the lymph system which is a combination of then spleen, the thymus,

and the tonsils. It begins here because this is where the production of blood

cells are located. The characteristics of a chronic leukemia cell is that it is

divided in two which are chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, T and B

lymphocytes. The B cell symptoms are more common than the T cell

because the T cells only affect 5% of all chronic leukemia patients. Since

chronic leukemia stays in the system for a longer time, it has time to

accumulate and grow in size so it looks much bigger than regular white blood

cells. Also, there is a big absence of granules, which contain special enzymes

that break down chemicals and destroy microorganisms. They remain

undetected for a long time. In acute leukemia, it is also split in two which

would be the T and B lymphocytes. Like in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the

B cell is more common than the T cell, but they are different too because

they can become cancerous. It is noticeable because it basically clogs the

production of immature white blood cells and once it accumulates in organs

and tissues, affecting their function. It also affects how red blood cells are

produced and platelets too.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

OF LEUKEMIA
People who have chronic leukemia dont get symptoms or signs of

leukemia until theyve been contracted with it for a great while. It attaches

onto the white blood cells and thrives upon it for a while until it greatly

accumulates which is where it then begins to show signs. These include

swollen lymph nodes in your neck, armpits, stomach, or groin, shortness of

breath, pain resulting in your spleen expanding, fatigue, night sweats, fever,

loss of weight, and infections. For those who have acute leukemia, it doesnt

take a long time to notice whether you have this or not. The symptoms for

this type of leukemia includes fever, bone pain, fatigue, shortness of breath,

pale skin, frequent infections, easy bruising, and unusual bleeding.

 EITIOLOGY AND RISK FACTORS
OF LEUKEMIA
There are many causes, reasons, or risks that can produce the

production of leukemia inside an individual. Gender and ethnicity plays a

huge role in the selection of whom may acquire any kind of leukemia and it

seems that its more common in males than females to get acute leukemia

and for chronic leukemia, it stays the same but it is more common in males

than females by a slight chance. White Americans are more probable than

African Americans to gain this also. It is not known why gender and

ethnicity plays a role but scientist have found this pattern through every

study theyve conducted. For chronic leukemia, it can be inherited through

family members like parents, siblings, or children and they have more than

twice the risk of this factor. However, acute leukemia cannot be inherited

through family, but it can through inherited syndromes such as Down

syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Fanconi anemia, bloom syndrome, Atazia-

telangiectasia, and Neurofibromatosis. Risk factors for any type of this

cancer includes exposure to electromagnetic fields such as power lines or

cell phones, exposure to any kind of gasoline or gas related chemicals,

smoking, and hair dyes.

GRAPHS AND DATA TABLES

OF LEUKEMIA
 https://www.lls.org/sites/default/files/file_assets/facts.pdf

The patterns I see from the graphs and data tables are all very diverse

depending on their type of leukemia. I see that Chronic Lymphocytic

Leukemia had the highest number of prevalence cases meaning that that

was the disease that had affected the most. However, due to the death

rates, it looks as though that the Acute Myeloid had more than any other

which made it more fatal. The older the patients got, the more the cases

seem to be growing so it might be a big cancer epidemic in children, but it

also spreads even wider in later aged patients. Also, the other thing that

caught my eye was in every single type of leukemia, at least 100 or 1,000

more males were killed by them.

 MOST COMMON FORM OF
TREATMENT AND SURVIVAL RATE
The most commonly used way to treat leukemia is through

chemotherapy. What chemotherapy does is it uses drugs to kill the leukemia

cells and depending on what kind of leukemia the individual may have, the

have one kind of drug or several. Another common way to treat this type of

cancer is through radiation therapy. Here, they us high-energy radiation to

damage leukemia cells and inhibit their growth, or stop it. Another option

could be stem cell transplantation which is where they replace the diseased

bone with a new healthy one from a donor or your own. The five-year relative

survival rate for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia is 59.9 percent, Chronic

Lymphocytic Leukemia is 83.5 percent, Acute Myeloid Leukemia is 25.4

percent and 66.3 percent for children under 15, and Acute Lymphocytic

Leukemia is 70 percent and 91.8 percent for children under 15.

NORMAL CELLS VS.

LEUKEMIA CELLS
Regular White Blood Cells:

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia:

Acute Myeloid Leukemia:

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia:

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: