After discussion with Professor Alexander, I found few mistakes in my previous entry (my dissertation actually). Here are those:
1. “Leukemia is a cancer of bone marrow….”
According to Professor Alexander, the word “cancer” should be only used for epithelium malignancy i.e solid organ cancer such as lung cancer and skin cancer. Because blood has no epithelium it is inaccurate to use “cancer of bone marrow” thus I shall change it to “malignancy” instead of “cancer”.
2. “Leukemia is a cancer of bone marrow that produces white blood cells or leukocytes.”
Some books or websites define leukemia as white blood cell cancer (off course, inaccurate use of term “cancer”). Again this is untrue because leukemia actually not only involves white blood cells. According to the French-American-British (FAB) classification system, Acute Myeloid Leukemia can be divided into 8 subtypes, M0 through to M7, based on the type of cell from which the leukemia developed and its degree of maturity (1).
The eight FAB subtypes are;(2)
M0 minimally differentiated acute myeloblastic leukemia
M1 (acute myeloblastic leukemia, without maturation)
M2 (acute myeloblastic leukemia, with granulocytic maturation)
M3 (promyelocytic), or acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)
M4 (acute myelomonocytic leukemia)
M4eo (myelomonocytic together with bone marrow eosinophilia)
M5 acute monoblastic leukemia (M5a) or acute monocytic leukemia (M5b)
M6 (acute erythroid leukemias), including erythroleukemia (M6a) and very rare pure erythroid leukemia (M6b)
M7 (acute megakaryoblastic leukemia)
M6 is also known as acute eryhtroid leukemias and we know erythrocyte is actually red blood cell instead of white. Don’t ask me what is the difference between M6 with eryhtrocytosis or polycythemia, I hope I know! Bottom line, leukemia is actually blood malignancy and not white cell malignancy.
3. “….. overproduction of immature myeloid cells i.e white cells other than lymphoid cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes and macrophages)”
Final correction, myeloid cell definition is NOT “white cells other than lymphoid cells”. Myeloid cell lineage also includes erythrocyte, platelet and megakaryocyte.
Biblio:
1. Wikipedia
2. Bennett J, Catovsky D, Daniel M, Flandrin G, Galton D, Gralnick H, Sultan C (1976). "Proposals for the classification of the acute leukaemias. French-American-British (FAB) co-operative group". Br J Haematol 33 (4): 451–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.1976.tb03563.x. PMID 188440
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