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Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Encyclopedia of Cancer

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Synonyms

ALL

Definition

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disease that arises from several cooperative genetic mutations in a single B- or T-lymphoid progenitor, leading to altered blast cell proliferation, survival, and maturation and eventually to the lethal accumulation of leukemic cells. Although cases can be subclassified further according to the multiple stages of T- or B-cell maturation, these distinctions are not therapeutically useful, except for the recognition of B-cell, B-cell precursor, T-cell, and early T-cell precursor stage.

Characteristics

ALL accounts for about 12 % of all childhood and adult leukemias diagnosed in developed countries and for 60 % of those diagnosed in persons younger than 20 years. It is the most common cancer in children (25 % of all cases) and has a peak incidence in patients between the ages of 2 and 5 years, with a second, smaller peak in the elderly.

The factors predisposing children and adults to ALL remain largely unknown....

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References

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See Also

  • (2012) Dasatinib. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1060. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1518

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  • (2012) Extramedullary. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1366. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2074

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  • (2012) Karyotype. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1941. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3200

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  • (2012) Remission. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3225. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5020

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  • (2012) Sanctuary Site. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3334. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5154

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    Ching-Hon Pui

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  1. Ching-Hon Pui
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Correspondence to Ching-Hon Pui .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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Pui, CH. (2015). Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_57-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_57-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
    Published:
    08 February 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_57-5

  2. Original

    Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
    Published:
    24 November 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_57-4

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