leukemia symptoms

The direct leukemia causes are still unknown. In present, medical science isn’t able to establish the specific leukemia disease causes. However, a strong connection between certain genetic factors and the development of the disease has been revealed. Leukemia occurs on the background of genetic failure that causes the excessive production of incomplete, partially matured blood cells. Also, leukemia has a hereditary character, allowing the transmission of genetic predispositions to disease from one generation to another. Although many factors are known to contribute to the development of leukemia, they alone can’t be considered leukemia causes.

Leukemia is basically a type of cancer of the bone marrow and blood, caused by inappropriate cellular activity. The disease can be of different forms, according to the types of blood cells that cause its development. Also, if leukemia is developing rapidly, it is called acute leukemia, while if the disease is developing slowly, it is referred to as chronic leukemia.

Genetic factors that are considered to be leukemia causes chromosome abnormalities – some rare genetic syndromes are known to contribute to leukemia causes;

- Immune system genetic problems - a weak immune system is very likely to facilitate the occurrence of leukemia and therefore can be considered a leukemia cause;

- Down syndrome – children born with this syndrome have a very high risk of developing acute leukemia.

Common infections that affect mothers and babies may trigger certain types of childhood cancers. Leukemia and brain tumors, leading cancers in children, occur in clusters, which suggests that outbreaks of infections are a contributing cause of the disease. These infections could be minor, common illnesses...such a cold, mild flu or a respiratory infection. Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer, accounting for nearly one third of all cases. Most of the rise has been in children ages 1 to 4. An infection in the womb or early in life could lead to cancer in young people who carry mutant cells that would make them more vulnerable to the disease. The virus would hit this mutant cell and cause a second mutation, prompting the onset of cancers like leukemia or brain tumors.

Viruses and Leukemia
Viruses of the retrovirus and herpesvirus families may potentially cause certain human leukemias and lymphomas. The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 causes adult T-cell leukemia. Influenza virus may also be a cause.
From 1974 to 2000, peaks in the rate of the acute lymphoblastic type of leukemia (ALL) among children in the UK seem to have occurred immediately after influenza epidemics. Perhaps some childhood leukemia may be triggered by infection occurring close to the time of diagnosis of leukemia. The findings are based on an analysis of data from the National Registry of Childhood Tumours, which covers the entire childhood population of the UK. During the 27-year period covered by the study, the rate of childhood ALL increased by 0.7 percent annually, on average. However, the rate spiked upward slightly in 1976 and 1990, just after influenza epidemics. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 15, 2006.

by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Green tea may help treat a form of adulthood leukemia. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, found that of four patients who started drinking green tea or taking green tea extracts, three showed clear improvements in their condition in the following months. The patients all had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, a form of leukemia that usually arises during or after middle-age and typically progresses slowly. Like all types of leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, in which abnormal white blood cells replace healthy blood cells. What's particularly interesting about these four cases, according to Dr. Tait Shanafelt, is that the patients all started using green tea on their own, after hearing media reports about a lab study Shanafelt and his colleagues conducted. That study showed that one compound found in green tea, known as EGCG, was able to kill cancer cells that were taken from chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients and put in a test tube with the tea compound. After the findings were published, the doctors became aware of four chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients at their center who had started using green tea products and seemed to be doing better. In interviewing the patients and reviewing their records, the doctors found that three showed signs of a regression in their cancer after they started to drink green tea or take green tea capsules. The fourth had an improvement in her white blood cell count, though her disease remained unchanged by standard criteria. In one case, the patient had been showing progressive swelling in her lymph nodes - one of the characteristics of chronic lymphocytic leukemia - before she starting taking green tea capsules twice a day. Over the next year, her lymph nodes steadily decreased in size. These cases alone cannot prove that green tea or its extracts conferred the benefits. An answer to that question, he said, awaits the outcome of an ongoing clinical trial he is leading. The study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, is testing the effects of a purified EGCG extract in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia. SOURCE: Leukemia Research, online December 1, 2005.

by Ray Sahelian, M.D.