Leukemia is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called blasts or leukemia cells. Symptoms may include bleeding and bruising, bone pain, fatigue, fever, and an increased risk of infections. These symptoms occur due to a lack of normal blood cells. Diagnosis is typically made by blood tests or bone marrow biopsy.
A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may include feeling tired, shortness of breath, bleeding disorders, anemia, or frequent infections. Some types may develop into acute myeloid leukemia.
Eosinophils, sometimes called eosinophiles or, less commonly, acidophils, are a variety of white blood cells and one of the immune system components responsible for combating multicellular parasites and certain infections in vertebrates. Along with mast cells and basophils, they also control mechanisms associated with allergy and asthma. They are granulocytes that develop during hematopoiesis in the bone marrow before migrating into blood, after which they are terminally differentiated and do not multiply. They form about 2 to 3% of white blood cells in the body.
Eosinophilia is a condition in which the eosinophil count in the peripheral blood exceeds 5×108/L (500/μL). Hypereosinophilia is an elevation in an individual's circulating blood eosinophil count above 1.5 × 109/L (i.e. 1,500/μL). The hypereosinophilic syndrome is a sustained elevation in this count above 1.5 × 109/L (i.e. 1,500/μL) that is also associated with evidence of eosinophil-based tissue injury.
Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all intimately connected through both the circulatory system and the immune system, a disease affecting one will often affect the others as well, making aplasia, myeloproliferation and lymphoproliferation closely related and often overlapping problems. While uncommon in solid tumors, chromosomal translocations are a common cause of these diseases. This commonly leads to a different approach in diagnosis and treatment of hematological malignancies. Hematological malignancies are malignant neoplasms ("cancer"), and they are generally treated by specialists in hematology and/or oncology. In some centers "hematology/oncology" is a single subspecialty of internal medicine while in others they are considered separate divisions. Not all hematological disorders are malignant ("cancerous"); these other blood conditions may also be managed by a hematologist.
A myeloid sarcoma is a solid tumor composed of immature white blood cells called myeloblasts. A chloroma is an extramedullary manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia; in other words, it is a solid collection of leukemic cells occurring outside of the bone marrow.
Acute erythrocyte leukemia is a rare form of acute myeloid leukemia where the myeloproliferation is of erythrocytic precursors. It is defined as type "M6" under the FAB classification.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may include feeling tired, shortness of breath, easy bruising and bleeding, and increased risk of infection. Occasionally, spread may occur to the brain, skin, or gums. As an acute leukemia, AML progresses rapidly, and is typically fatal within weeks or months if left untreated.
Loeffler endocarditis is a form of heart disease characterized by a stiffened, poorly-functioning heart caused by infiltration of the heart by white blood cells known as eosinophils. Restrictive cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle which results in impaired diastolic filling of the heart ventricles, i.e. the large heart chambers which pump blood into the pulmonary or systemic circulation. Diastole is the part of the cardiac contraction-relaxation cycle in which the heart fills with venous blood after the emptying done during its previous systole.
Acute monocytic leukemia is a type of acute myeloid leukemia. In AML-M5 >80% of the leukemic cells are of monocytic lineage. This cancer is characterized by a dominance of monocytes in the bone marrow. There is an overproduction of monocytes that the body does not need in the periphery. These overproduced monocytes interfere with normal immune cell production which causes many health complications for the affected individual.
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a type of leukemia, which are cancers of the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. In adults, blood cells are formed in the bone marrow, by a process that is known as haematopoiesis. In CMML, there are increased numbers of monocytes and immature blood cells (blasts) in the peripheral blood and bone marrow, as well as abnormal looking cells (dysplasia) in at least one type of blood cell.
Acute myeloblastic leukemia with maturation (M2) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Factor interacting with PAPOLA and CPSF1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FIP1L1 gene. A medically important aspect of the FIP1L1 gene is its fusion with other genes to form fusion genes which cause clonal hypereosinophilia and leukemic diseases in humans.
Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is life-threatening leukemia in which malignant megakaryoblasts proliferate abnormally and injure various tissues. Megakaryoblasts are the most immature precursor cells in a platelet-forming lineage; they mature to promegakaryocytes and, ultimately, megakaryocytes which cells shed membrane-enclosed particles, i.e. platelets, into the circulation. Platelets are critical for the normal clotting of blood. While malignant megakaryoblasts usually are the predominant proliferating and tissue-damaging cells, their similarly malignant descendants, promegakaryocytes and megakaryocytes, are variable contributors to the malignancy.
Acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML) is a form of acute myeloid leukemia that involves a proliferation of CFU-GM myeloblasts and monoblasts. AMML occurs with a rapid increase amount in white blood cell count and is defined by more than 20% of myeloblast in the bone marrow. It is classified under "M4" in the French-American-British classification (FAB). It is classified under "AML, not otherwise classified" in the WHO classification.
Biphenotypic acute leukaemia (BAL) is an uncommon type of leukemia which arises in multipotent progenitor cells which have the ability to differentiate into both myeloid and lymphoid lineages. It is a subtype of "leukemia of ambiguous lineage".
Eosinophilic myocarditis is inflammation in the heart muscle that is caused by the infiltration and destructive activity of a type of white blood cell, the eosinophil. Typically, the disorder is associated with hypereosinophilia, i.e. an eosinophil blood cell count greater than 1,500 per microliter. It is distinguished from non-eosinophilic myocarditis, which is heart inflammation caused by other types of white blood cells, i.e. lymphocytes and monocytes, as well as the respective descendants of these cells, NK cells and macrophages. This distinction is important because the eosinophil-based disorder is due to a particular set of underlying diseases and its preferred treatments differ from those for non-eosinophilic myocarditis.
Clonal hypereosinophilia, also termed primary hypereosinophilia or clonal eosinophilia, is a grouping of hematological disorders all of which are characterized by the development and growth of a pre-malignant or malignant population of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell that occupies the bone marrow, blood, and other tissues. This population consists of a clone of eosinophils, i.e. a group of genetically identical eosinophils derived from a sufficiently mutated ancestor cell.
Lymphocyte-variant hypereosinophilia is a rare disorder in which eosinophilia or hypereosinophilia is caused by an aberrant population of lymphocytes. These aberrant lymphocytes function abnormally by stimulating the proliferation and maturation of bone marrow eosinophil-precursor cells termed colony forming unit-Eosinophils or CFU-Eos.
Familial eosinophilia is a rare congenital disorder characterized by the presence of sustained elevations in blood eosinophil levels that reach ranges diagnostic of eosinophilia or, far more commonly, hypereosinophilia. Although high eosinophil levels are associated with certain diseases and thought to contribute to the tissue destruction found in many other eosinophilia-related diseases, clinical manifestations and tissue destruction related to the eosinophilia in familial eosinophilia is uncommon: this genetic disease typically has a benign phenotype and course compared to other congenital and acquired eosinophilic diseases.
