Library · Neoplasm
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Make it clearer
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a blood cancer that grows slowly. The diseased cell is the B lymphocyte, one of the white blood cells that make antibodies. In this leukemia those B lymphocytes are overproduced, and although they look mature, they do not work.
What fails first is the exit. Every cell has its own death programmed for when it has served its purpose, and that is called apoptosis. These lymphocytes escape that order: these are cells that no longer know how to do their job and do not retire either, so they pile up. They keep dividing inside the lymph nodes, then infiltrate the spleen and the bone marrow, the blood factory inside the bone, and in the end they spill over into the circulating blood.
The underlying problem is not just that there are too many cells, but that the good ones are missing. Without B lymphocytes that work, the body makes fewer antibodies, something called hypogammaglobulinemia, and that is why the risk of infection rises.
In brief
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is an indolent neoplasm of the blood, bone marrow, spleen and lymph nodes, with increased production of mature but dysfunctional B lymphocytes.
Those B lymphocytes escape apoptosis, keep dividing in the lymph node, infiltrate the spleen and bone marrow, and eventually spill into the blood.
These are cells that no longer know how to do their job and do not retire either: they pile up.
Because functional B lymphocytes are missing, the immune response weakens, hypogammaglobulinemia appears and the risk of infection rises.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingChronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated