About Leukemia

Chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) is caused by the constitutively active tyrosine kinase Bcr-Abl.

Leukemia, a form of cancer, strikes at the patient's bone marrow. The disease's name literally means "white blood," and is derived from the fact that in most cases, Leukemia negatively affects the person's blood cells. Leukemia causes the bone marrow to create an excessive amount of immature white cells (or blasts) with an irregular shape. As a result of their irregular shape, the white cells are not able to carry out their intended functions. Eventually these white blood cells begin the crowd in the marrow, and interfere with the production of the various other blood-cell types. This leads to swelling and pain.

Denying the Symptoms

Part of the problem with Leukemia, as with most any cancer, is that people are often not diagnosed early enough. This is largely because when they experience the symptoms, they try to rationalize them away. So what are the symptoms that should send a warning signal to people to go to the doctor? There are many, but the main ones are:

• Regular unexplained tiredness and fatigue
• Malaise - that undefined slight feeling of bodily discomfort
• Unexplained bleeding
• An unusual amount of bruising from just the slightest hits.
• Excessive weakness
• Unexplained drastic weight loss
• Pain in the joints and other bones
• Unexplained fever and infection
• Regular sense of "fullness," even when it's been a while since you've eaten
• Unusual pain in the abdomen
• Unexplained enlarging of the liver, spleen or lymph nodes

While many of these symptoms apply to several conditions, some minor, if you experience a few of these, you should consult a physician. Or if you've noticed these symptoms in a friend or loved one, gently encourage them to see a doctor. A high percentage of people survive Leukemia if it's caught early enough. In fact, in the past half century, the survival rate has more than tripled, precisely because more people pay attention to the symptoms. But early detection is key.

Causes of Leukemia

Nobody knows exactly what causes Leukemia. It has been documented that persons exposed to high levels of benzene at work or to high amounts of irradiation get Leukemia more often than the regular population, but nobody has yet been able to explain why. There has also been some evidence that exposure to formaldehyde can be a risk factor, but again, there's not explanation why this is.

Treatment with nilotinib

Last year between 44,000 and 45,000 new cases of bone or marrow cancer were diagnosed in the United States. What makes Leukemia all the more tragic is its frequency among children. More than 500 children died from some form of the cancer in 2007.