What causes leukemia?

Leukemia is terrifying. There are many factors that cause leukemia, such as the most common genetic factors, viral infections, radioactive substances, and other drug effects, which may be common causes of leukemia.

1. Viruses

Years of research have long proven that retroviruses, which are RNA viruses, can cause human T-lymphocytic leukemia. The relationship between other viruses and leukemia has also attracted attention.

2. Genetic quality

Leukemia is not a hereditary disease, but there may be multiple malignant tumors in the family; a small number of children may suffer from other hereditary diseases, such as trisomy 21, congenital testicular dysgenesis, congenital aplastic anemia with multiple malformations, congenital distal telangiectasia erythrae, and severe combined immunodeficiency. The incidence of leukemia in children with these diseases is significantly higher than that in ordinary children.

In addition, if one identical twin develops acute leukemia, the chance that the other will also develop leukemia is 20%, which is 12 times higher than the incidence rate of dizygotic twins. The above phenomena all suggest that the occurrence of leukemia is related to genetic quality.

3. Radiation factors

Ionizing radiation can cause leukemia, and its effect is related to the radiation dose and the radiation site. A single larger dose (1-9Gy) or multiple smaller doses can cause leukemogenesis. The incidence of leukemia in children who have undergone radiation therapy for thymic hypertrophy is 10 times higher than in normal children. The incidence of leukemia in newborns of pregnant women who had their abdomen irradiated was 17.4 times higher than that of newborns who had not been irradiated.

4. Chemical factors

Benzene and its derivatives, chloramphenicol, phenylbutazone, ethidium bromide, alkylating agents and cytotoxic drugs can all induce leukemia. Secondary leukemia is also prone to occur after chemotherapy for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. In recent years, there have been many reports indicating that pollution from interior decoration, furniture and toys is a major contributing factor to the rising incidence of leukemia among urban children.