Oncology & Cancer

Gene therapy scores big wins against blood cancers

In one of the biggest advances against leukemia and other blood cancers in many years, doctors are reporting unprecedented success by using gene therapy to transform patients' blood cells into soldiers that seek and destroy ...

Medical research

New study shows how tumor cells use mitochondria to keep growing

Hormone therapy is often used to treat prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, but many patients develop resistance to hormone therapy, causing their disease to become more aggressive and potentially more ...

Oncology & Cancer

Herpes virus linked to most common type of childhood cancer

Newborns with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV)—a common virus in the herpes family—may have an increased risk of developing acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), according to new research published online today in Blood, ...

Oncology & Cancer

Blood cancer cures and care: Addressing leukemia and lymphoma

Every four minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with a type of blood cancer, such as lymphoma or leukemia. According to the American Cancer Society's estimates, approximately 60,530 cases of leukemia and 90,000 ...

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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts.

Malignant, immature white blood cells continuously multiply and are overproduced in the bone marrow. ALL causes damage and death by crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow, and by spreading (infiltrating) to other organs. ALL is most common in childhood with a peak incidence at 2–5 years of age, and another peak in old age. The overall cure rate in children is about 80%, and about 45%-60% of adults have long-term disease-free survival.

Acute refers to the relatively short time course of the disease (being fatal in as little as a few weeks if left untreated) to differentiate it from the very different disease of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which has a potential time course of many years. It is interchangeably referred to as Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic. This refers to the cells that are involved, which if they were normal would be referred to as lymphocytes but are seen in this disease in a relatively immature (also termed 'blast') state.

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