What is Leukemia ?

Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells.

CAUSE
Leukemia usually affects white blood cells. The cause of most types of leukemia is unknown. Viruses cause some leukemias in animals (eg cats).

HTLV-I virus (human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I), which resemble the virus that causes AIDS, is thought to cause a rare type of leukemia in humans, namely adult T-cell leukemia.

Exposure to radiation (radiation) and certain chemicals (eg benzene) and the use of anticancer drugs, increasing the risk of leukemia. People who have certain genetic disorders (eg Down's syndrome and Fanconi syndrome), are also more susceptible to leukemia.

White blood cells derived from stem cells in bone marrow. Leukemia occurs when the process of maturation of stem cells into white blood cells susceptible to interference and produces changes toward malignancy.

These changes often involve a rearrangement of parts of chromosomes (genetic material of cells is complex). Chromosomal rearrangement (translocation chromosomes) disrupt the normal control of cell division, so that cells divide uncontrollably and become malignant, eventually mastering these cells replace the bone marrow and the place of the cells that produce blood cells are normal. This cancer can also infiltrate into other organs, including liver, spleen, lymph nodes, kidney, and brain.