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Concept
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Summary
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, pale skin color, fever, easy bleeding or bruising, enlarged lymph nodes, or bone pain. As an acute leukemia, ALL progresses rapidly and is typically fatal within weeks or months if left untreated.
In most cases, the cause is unknown. Genetic risk factors may include Down syndrome, Li–Fraumeni syndrome, or neurofibromatosis type 1. Environmental risk factors may include significant radiation exposure or prior chemotherapy. Evidence regarding electromagnetic fields or pesticides is unclear. Some hypothesize that an abnormal immune response to a common infection may be a trigger. The underlying mechanism involves multiple genetic mutations that results in rapid cell division. The excessive immature lymphocytes in the bone marrow interfere with the production of new red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Diagnosis is typically based on blood tests and bone marrow examination.
ALL is typically treated initially with chemotherapy aimed at bringing about remission. This is then followed by further chemotherapy typically over a number of years. Treatment usually also includes intrathecal chemotherapy since systemic chemotherapy can have limited penetration into the central nervous system and the central nervous system is a common site for relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Treatment can also include radiation therapy if spread to the brain has occurred. Stem cell transplantation may be used if the disease recurs following standard treatment. Additional treatments such as Chimeric antigen receptor T cell immunotherapy are being used and further studied.
ALL affected about 876,000 people globally in 2015 and resulted in about 111,000 deaths. It occurs most commonly in children, particularly those between the ages of two and five. In the United States it is the most common cause of cancer and death from cancer among children.
Official source
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Related publications (12)
Tcf1 is essential for initiation of oncogenic Notch1-driven chromatin topology in T-ALL
Freddy Radtke, Ute Koch, Christelle Dubey, Nadine Zangger, Mateusz Waldemar Antoszewski, Marianne Nkosi, Tara Kimberly Sugrue, Giovanni Ciriello
NOTCH1 is a well-established lineage specifier for T cells and among the most frequently mutated genes throughout all subclasses of T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). How oncogenic NOTCH1 si
AMER SOC HEMATOLOGY2022Notch1-driven T-ALL chromatin landscape is regulated by Tcf1 in hematopoietic progenitors
Notch1 receptor signaling is essential for T cell fate specification and physiological thymic T lymphocyte development. Its dysregulation and oncogenic activation are detected in almost 80% of pediatr
EPFL2021Characterization of myelodysplastic syndromes progressing to acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Filipe Amândio Brandão Sanches Vong Martins
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases, with a variable probability of transformation into acute leukemia, which is, in the vast majority of cases, of myeloid lineage. N
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