Acute Myeloid Leukemia

We just learned about the type of leukemia called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

If the Leukemia is Acute and Myeloid, it is called Acute Myeloid Leukemia or AML for short.


We know white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.
The myeloid white blood cells are the ones that turn into neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, or monocytes that we've learned about.

They start as stem cells, then turn into something called myeloid blasts, then later turn into these other types of cells.

The human body is only supposed to have so many of each type of cell, and only so many myeloid blasts.

With AML, the body makes too many myeloid blasts over and over, they don't turn into any of the other types of cells, and the myeloid blasts cause problems in the human body like getting infections, having fevers, getting lots of bruises, and tiredness.

Chemotherapy is one of the ways to try and beat this cancer, which is a type of radiation that tries to kill the bad cells.


(from: wikipedia - acute myeloid leukemia)


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Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

We've learned about the different types of Leukemia, whether it is Acute or Chronic, and whether it is Lymphoblastic or Myelogenous.

If the Leukemia is Acute and Lymphoblastic, it is called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL for short.

We know lymphocyte white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.

They start as stem cells, then turn into something called lymphoblasts, then later turn into lymphocytes, and then later turn into B-Cells, T-Cells or NK Cells.

The human body is only supposed to have so many B, T or NK cells, and only so many lymphoblasts.

With ALL, the body makes too many lymphoblasts over and over, they don't turn into B, T or NK cells, and the lymphoblasts cause problems in the human body like tiredness, pale skin, fever, bleeding, bruising, enlarged lymph nodes, or bone pain.

Chemotherapy is one of the ways to try and beat this cancer, which is a type of radiation that tries to kill the bad cells.


(from: wikipedia - acute lymphoblastic leukemia)


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Lymphoblastic or Myelogenous Leukemia

We just learned about the Acute or Chronic Leukemia.

Another part of the Leukemia disease is whether it is Lymphoblastic or Myelogenous Leukemia.

If the leukemia is lymphoblastic, that means the problem is with the type of white blood cells called lymphocytes, usually the B cell lymphocytes.

If it is myelogenus, the problem is usually with red blood cells, some white blood cells, and some platelets.


(from: wikipedia - leukemia)


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Acute or Chronic Leukemia

We just learned a little about Leukemia.

Let's learn about Acute or Chronic Leukemia.

Remember we learned that there are 4 main kinds of Leukemia:
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
- Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)

The "Acute" or "Chronic" word at the beginning of the disease has to do with what kinds of blood cells are going bad, and how fast the leukemia is spreading.

Acute leukemia is very fast, and is made up of immature blood cells.
Chronic leukemia spreads slower, and is made up of mostly mature blood cells that are just not made right.


(from: wikipedia - acute lymphoblastic leukemia)


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Leukemia

We just learned a little about Blood Cancer.

One of the three types of blood cancer is called Leukemia.

The word leukemia comes from the words for white and blood, because this is a cancer of the white blood cells.

This disease usually starts in the bone marrow where all of the blood cells are being made.
A type of blood cells called blasts that are not totally made right start getting made in the bone marrow and sent around the body.

These blasts take the place of normal healthy blood cells and then the body gets sick because it doesn't have the right kinds of blood cells doing the right jobs.

There are 4 main kinds of leukemia:
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
- Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)

The different types of leukemia depend on which types of blood cells are having problems, and how fast the cancer is spreading.


(from: wikipedia - leukemia)


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Blood Cancer

We just learned about the Epitope that the body looks at to find diseases.

Even though we've learned about all of the amazing things the human body does to fight off pathogens or diseases, sometimes the human body still gets sick.

Sometimes things go wrong with the blood cells we've learned about, with something called Blood Cancer.

Cancer is a disease that can affect any type of the body, from the bone to skin to brain.

Blood cancer has three different kinds: Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma.

One of the ways that people test for these diseases is counting the number of each of the types of blood cells, from leukoctyes to lymphocytes to B cells.

The human body is supposed to have a certain number of each type of cells, and if the count is wrong then it can tell doctors something is wrong.


(from: wikipedia - tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues)


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Epitope

We just learned about the Paratope.

Another part of the immune system is an Epitope.

Just like we learned that the paratope is part of the antibody that is like the lock, the epitope is the part of the antigen that is like the key.

The antibody lock goes around looking for an antigen key to match.
So the paratopes look for epitopes to match.


(from: wikipedia - epitope)


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Paratope

We just learned about the Antibody that helps find and get rid of pathogen diseases.

Another part of the immune system is the Paratope.

We learned about how the antibody is like a detective with a lock looking for the antigen with the right key.

The paratope is the part of the antibody that is like the lock.
They are made up of chemicals in the body that the antibody uses to find diseases.


(from: wikipedia - paratope)


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Antibody

We just learned about the Antigens that are like signs on pathogen diseases showing what kind of disease they are.

Another part of the immune system is the Antibody.

The antibody is the part of the body that looks for those signs on the antigens to get rid of them.

There are all different types of antibodies, and each one is built like a detective looking for a different type of bad disease.

The antibodies are built in a Y shape, and work with antigens like a lock and key.

If the antibody lock matches the antigen key, then the antibody gets to work getting rid of that antigen to kill the disease.


(from: wikipedia - antibody)


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Antigen

We just learned about the Pathogen.

Another part of how the body fights sickness is an Antigen, also called "Ag".

An antigen is a part of a pathogen disease that the body can use to figure out what kind of disease it is.
It's almost like the disease is wearing a type of sign, mark or color that tells the body what it is.

Once the body knows what kind of disease it is, it can use the right types of white blood cells like T cells or NK cells to go kill the bad disease.

The antigens are made up of things called proteins, peptines or polysaccarides.
Those are just fancy words for chemicals on a disease that look like a sign to our virus fighting immune system.


(from: wikipedia - antigen)


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Pathogen

We just learned about the Thymus.

All of these parts of the lymphatic system help fight against bad things called Pathogens.

A pathogen is a living thing that can cause you to get sick.
It could be a virus, bacteria or other type of living thing that can get into your body.

The different types of cells in the lymphatic system like T cells or all work together to fight these pathogens, and keep your body healthy.

The science of these living things is called a microbioly, and the science for how these living things can hurt the body is called pathology.
(from: wikipedia - pathogen)


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Thymus

We just learned about the Phagocytosis.

Another part of the immune system is the Thymus.

We learned before about the type of lymphocyte white blood cells called T cells that go to the thymus to grow.

The thymus is only a few inches long and wide, but it is very important.
When young T cells leave the bone marrow to go to the thymus they are called thymocytes.

The thymocytes get to the thymus and then they are put to the antigen test.
Antigens are things that are part of the human body, but also part of viruses.
We want our T cells to fight against virus antigens, but not human body antigents.
So this thing called the MHC tests to see if the young thymocyte is a virus fighter.

If it is a virus fighter, this is called "positive selection" and it gets to grow up to a T cell and leave the thymus.
If not, this is caled "negative selection" then it has to be destroyed or it could hurt the body.


(from: wikipedia - thymus)


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Phagocytosis

We just learned about the Spleen.

Another part of the lymphatic system is the Phagocytosis.

Some of the white blood cells we learned about get rid of bad things in our body in different ways.
One of the ways they do this is by using phagocytosis, which is wrapping their whole body around the bad bacteria, almost like they are eating it.
Then once the bad thing is surrounded, they break it down into pieces and get rid of it.


(from: wikipedia - phagocytosis)


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Spleen

We just learned about the Basophil.

Another part of the lymphatic system is the Spleen.

This is a small organ about 3 inches long in the upper left part of the body, behind the stomach.

The spleen has a few jobs: - Remove old red blood cells that aren't good anymore
- Keep some extra blood in case of bleeding
- Recycles iron from old blood back into the body
- Fights bacteria and viruses using lymphocytes


(from: wikipedia - spleen)


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Basophil

We just learned about the type of white blood cell called the Eosinophil.

Another type of white blood cell is the Basophil.

We've learned about 4 other types of white blood cells (WBC):
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.
- neutrophils - most common WBC that is the first line of defense for fighting infections.
- eosinophils - that live in tissues and help fight off allergic responses

The Basophil is the 5th and last type of WBC.

This type of white blood cell is one of the things that makes your body react when it is allergic to something. So this could be swelling up or getting itchy spots on your body.
It does this by letting out something called "histamines".

The eosinophils puts out "antihistamines" so when your body is trying to calm down from being allergic to something, these antihistamines work against the histamines.

Basophils also let out a chemical called heparin, which keeps your blood a liquid.
When your blood dries up and turns to a clot it can cause problems, so the heparin makes sure it doesn't dry up.


(from: wikipedia - basophil)


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Eosinophil

We just learned about the Neutrophil.

Another type of white blood cell is the Eosinophil, pronounced like "ee-oh-sin-oh-fill".

We've learned about 3 other types of white blood cells (WBC):
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.
- neutrophils - most common WBC that is the first line of defense for fighting infections.

Less than 3% of the WBCs in the body are eosinophils.
They help fight viruses, and they also help the body fight off allergic responses.

One big difference is that these eosinophils live in tissues, they are not floating around in the blood stream.
They hang out in places like the intestines and spleen, but they do not go into the lungs, skin or esophagus.


(from: wikipedia - eosinophil)


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Neutrophil

We just learned about the Monocyte.

Another type of white blood cell is a Neutrophil, also called a neutrocyte or heterophil.

We've learned about 2 other types of white blood cells:
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.

The neutrophils are a lot like the monocytes, where their job is to go fight off bad germs and dirt that cause infections and make you sick.
These are the first line of defense for your body when there is an infection, they are like the emergency workers that rush to the scene to help out.


There are more neutrophils than any other type of white blood cell, and the human body makes about 100 billion neutrophils every day.

One of the only differences between monoctyes and neutrophils is that when a monocyte fights off an infection or disease they leave behind some clues about what kind of disease it might be.
These clues help the super powerful lymphocytes come in if there is a bad disease that needs to be killed off.


(from: wikipedia - neutrophil)


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Monocyte

We just learned about the kind of white blood cell called a lymphocyte, and the kind of lymphocyte called the B Cell.

There are other kinds of white blood cells, like one called the Monocyte.

These white blood cells are bigger than their cousins the lymphocytes, and their job is to go around cleaning up dirty things like infections in the body.

When they see something like dirt or infection they turn into something else called a macrophage and they wrap themselves around the bad stuff, almost like they are eating it, and they destroy the unhealthy bad stuff.

They are different from the lymphocytes because lymphocytes are really for targeting specific diseases or viruses, and monocytes are really more like cleaning up all the dirty garbage and fighting off infections.

So if your skin gets cut and you don't wash it off and keep it clean, you can get dirt and germs in your body.
The monocytes help fight off the bad stuff that comes from the dirt and germs if it gets infected.


(from: wikipedia - monocyte)


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B Cells

We've learned about just learned about the T Cells.

Another type of white blood cell lymphocyte is B Cells.

We are looking at:
- the type of blood cells called white blood cells,
- the type of white blood cells called lymphocytes
- the type of lymphocytes called B Cells.

Remember that we already learned about 2 other types of lymphocytes called NK Cells and T Cells.

In your body you have the living cells that make up your body or even bad diseases, and then you have a lot of other liquid floating around that is not made up of cells, just liquid.

The T Cells and NK Cells work on looking at the cells, killing bad ones and letting good ones live.

The B Cells work on the liquid that is flowing around the cells in your body.
If they find anything that looks bad, they let out these things called antibodies that stick to the bad disease and tell the body that this bad cell needs to be killed.


(from: wikipedia - b cell)


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T Cells

We just learned about NK Cells.

Another type of lymphocyte is T Cells.

We are looking at:
- the type of blood cells called white blood cells,
- the type of white blood cells called lymphocytes
- the type of lymphocytes called T Cells.

These cells are called T Cells because they are usually found in a part of the body called the thymus, which is right in the middle of your chest behind your sternum.

All white blood cells are made in the bone marrow, but after these T Cells leave the bone marrow they go to the thymus.

T Cells are kind of like NK Cells as they go kill bad viruses that attack your body, but the T Cells are special because they are made to only attack certain types of viruses, where as the NK Cells attack everything.

When the T Cells go to the thymus, the thymus sorts them out and figures out which ones are set up to fight the right kinds of viruses that the body wants to fight, and then if a T Cell is not needed it is thrown away.

The T Cells are sort of like specialized attack soldiers waiting for certain viruses to show up and then they attack.


(from: wikipedia - t cell)


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