chronic leukaemia Flashcards
what is chronic leukaemia
lost of partially developed white blood cells in the blood over a long period of time
most common cause of chronic leukaemia
chromosomal abnormality in haematopoietic stem cells that are going to become leukocytes
what cells does chronic myeloid leukaemia affect
granulocytes
what types of cells does chronic lymphocytic leukaemia affect
lymphocytes
-especially B cells
how much do the cell mature in chronic leukaemia
only partially
-key difference with acute leukaemia where the cells don’t mature at all
what then happens cause the cells only mature partially
the cells don’t work properly which then weakens you immune system
how does there end up being lots of these partially matured cells
in CML the cells divide too quickly
in CLL the cells don’t die as they should
what happens as these leukocytes accumulate in bone marrow
they spill into blood, organs and the circulation
-the healthy cells get crowded out causing anaemia etc
when spill into the organs cause hepatosplenomegaly
most common chromosome translocation in chronic myeloid leukaemia
philadelphia chromosomes
are the cells in chronic called blasts?
no
-blasts are much more immature
what is the gene product after the mutation in CML
The gene product is a tyrosine kinase which causes abnormal phosphorylation (signalling) leading to the haematological changes in CML
what is the chronic phase of CML
can last around 5 years, is often asymptomatic and patients are diagnosed incidentally with a raised white cell count
what is the accelerated phase of CML
the cells take up a high proportion of the cells in the bone marrow and blood
-patients become more symptomatic
what is the blast phase of CML
follows the accelerated phase and involves an even higher proportion of blast cells and basically becomes acute
-very severe
progression of CLL
