Leukaemia and Stem Cells
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood of which there are four main types:
- Acute lymphoblastic (ALL)
- Chronic lymphocytic (CLL)
- Acute myeloid (AML)
- Chronic myeloid (CML)
Leukemia Facts
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common type in children making up four-fifths of all childhood diagnoses. [2]
- Although this condition is the most common cancer of childhood, more than 9 in 10 cases are diagnosed in adults [2]
- Around 1,800 new cases are diagnosed each year in children in the United States [2]
- Worldwide, around 352,000 people were estimated to have been diagnosed with the disease in 2012, with incidence rates varying across the world [3]
- In the US in 2022, around 23,496 people died from leukemia, that’s 64 people every day [2]
- In the 1970s, less than 5 in 100 of people diagnosed with leukemia survived their disease beyond ten years, now it’s almost half [2]
Leukemia and Stem Cells
Leukemia was one of the first illnesses to be treated with stem cell transplants.[4] When the disease is severe and needs to be treated with chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant can be used to replace the cancerous cells within the bone marrow and replace them with non-malignant blood forming cells.[5]
Stem cell transplants are intensive and can leave patients vulnerable to infection and other complications, they are only considered when standard-dose chemotherapy fails to destroy the leukemia. However, hematopoietic stem cell transplants have proven particularly useful for treating certain kinds of acute leukemia.[4]
Umbilical cord blood is a source of stem cells with great promise for leukemia sufferers. Cord blood stem cells are more easily matched to patients than bone marrow stem cells and with less than 50% of patients in need of a stem cell transplant able to find a bone marrow donor; stem cells from cord blood can offer a lifeline.
At the time of writing there are 1422 clinical trials investigating the application of stem cells to treat this condition.[6]
References
- http://patient.info/health/leukaemia-a-general-overview
- https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/childleuk.html
- http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/leukaemia#heading-Zero
- http://www.eurostemcell.org/factsheet/leukaemia-how-can-stem-cells-help
- http://www.cancercenter.com/leukemia/stem-cell-transplantation/
- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=stem+cells+leukaemia&Search=Search
- Frontiers in pediatrics, 7, 443. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2019.00443
- Lancet (London, England), 399(10322), 338–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00057-5
- Lancet (London, England), 399(10322), 372–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02017-1
The information contained in this article is for information purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of a medical expert. If you have any concerns about your health we urge you to discuss them with your doctor.
