What it is?

Leukemia is a type of cancer affecting the blood and bone marrow, marked by the overproduction of abnormal white blood cells that impair normal blood cell function .

Main types include:

  • Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): Rapidly advancing, where the bone marrow overproduces immature lymphocytes.
  • Acute myeloid leukemia (AML): Fast-growing cancer affecting myeloid cells.
  • Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL): Slow-growing leukemia marked by excess lymphocytes; often without symptoms at first.
  • Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): Defined by disease phases—chronic, accelerated, and blast crisis—based on blast count and progression.

Main Symptoms:

Common symptoms across leukemias include:

  • Fatigue, fever, recurrent infections due to dysfunctional white blood cells and anemia.
  • Easy bruising or bleeding from low platelet counts.
  • Swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleen or liver, and unexplained weight loss or night sweats.

Standard treatments:

Treatment strategies vary by leukemia type and stage:

  • ALL and AML:
    • Chemotherapy forms the backbone of treatment for both types, aiming to eradicate rapidly dividing leukemia cells. Subtypes like acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL, AML-M3) also benefit from targeted agents like all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA).
    • Bone marrow or stem cell transplantation is an option for high-risk or relapsed cases.
  • CLL:
    • Watchful waiting may be appropriate for asymptomatic patients. For symptomatic cases, treatments include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and increasingly targeted therapies.
  • CML:
    • Targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors is standard, effectively halting disease progression in most patients.
    • Other options include high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant or donor lymphocyte infusion for resistant or advanced cases.

Radiotheranostics:

Radiotheranostics is a type of treatment that combines therapy and diagnostics. It uses special radioactive substances that are injected in the patient, finds and destroys the cancer cells.

Currently there are no approved radiotheranostics for leukemia.

Many companies are conducting clinical trials as shown below.

Your doctor can help you understand which treatment is right for you.

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Patient associations

Europe: Lyle (DNK), Action Leucémies (FRA), ALAN (CHE), Leukemia Care (GBR), Croatian Association of Leukemia and Lymphomas (HRV), SILLC (FRA), Deutsche Leukamie & Lymphom-Hilfe eV Germany (DEU), Leukaemiehilfe RHEIN-MAIN g.e.V. (DEU), MOHA (HUN), Kraujas (LTU), Stichting Hematon (NLD), AEAL (ESP)

APAC: Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (NZL), Leukaemia Foundation of Australia (AUS)

Middle East: The Flute of Light (ISR)

North America: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of USA (USA), T-Cell Leukemia Lymphoma Foundation (USA)

LATAM: ABRALE (BRA), FCL (COL), Fundación Porsaleu (URY), ALMA (ARG)