Inheritance

     Leukemia is not hereditary; it happens mainly randomly. However, hereditary influence and environmental exposures can influence a person's risk for leukemia. In a few rare cases, parents seem to pass on the susceptibility to the disease, and the gene that causes this seems to be designated as CBFA2. For more information on this gene and how it affects a person's susceptibility to leukemia, see Research Outlo...

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Research Outlook

     Although leukemia is not typically inherited through heredity, there are rare cases where a gene is inherited that makes a person more susceptible to the disease. In 1990, a woman went to Gary Gilliland for a second opinion after her diagnosis of acute leukemia. The woman seemed to be from a family that had an unusually high risk for developing acute leukemia, and after taking blood samples from five generations of her family, Gilliland identified a genetic mutation that causes a familial platelet...

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Chromosome Specific Causes for Leukemia

     Leukemia is caused when chromosomes go through translocation, or the transfer of one piece of a chromosome to a non homologous chromosome, and often the two non homologous chromosomes will swap segments. In leukemia, CML is caused by the translocation between one chromosome 9 and one chromosome 22; the translocation designated t(9;22). This results...

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Complications of Leukemia

     In patients with leukemia, complications such as repeated infections arise. They may also experience kidney failure or impaired function, or a decreased number of white blood cells. Also, the treatments for leukemia can have serious side effects such as weight loss, bleeding, infection, fatigue, hair loss, or nausea.&nb...

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Stem Cell Transplant

     The stem cell transplant is a procedure to replace one's damaged bone marrow with healthy bone marrow. Before going through with this procedure, a person will receive high amounts of chemotherapy or radiation therapy to destroy the diseased bone marrow. Once through with this, the person will receive new blood-forming stem cells to help rebuild the bone marrow. Stem cells for the procedure may be donated or used from another part of the person's bo...

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Radiation Therapy

     Radiation therapy consists of using X-rays or other high energy beams to damage leukemic cells and stop their growth. During this therapy, a machine will direct the radiation to precise points on a person's body. Radiation may be received in a single area with a large number of leukemic cells or over a person's whole bo...

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Biological Therapy and Targeted Therapy

Biological Therapy:     This type of therapy works by helping a person's immune system recognize and attack leukemic cells.Targeted Therapy:     Just as in Chemotherapy, targeted therapy uses drugs. These drugs attack specific vulnerabilities within leukemic cells. This type of therapy can help control the disea...

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