Cancer What is radioimmunotherapy?

Radioimmunotherapy is a revolutionary cancer treatment that is producing remarkable results in treating blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma. The technique combines two types of therapy: radiation therapy & immune therapy, using monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are man-made immune proteins used to target and attach to the surface of a cell. In radioimmunotherapy, radiation-emitting molecules, called radioisotopes, attach to the monoclonal antibodies. Those monoclonal antibodies carry the radiation-emitting molecule to the cancer cells and result in a more localized, target-specific irradiation. As the radioisotope attaches to the surface of the cancer cell, the cancer cells are killed

Arsenic therapy for leukemia

Scientists have unravelled the paradox of how a carcinogenic poison can also act as a treatment for cancer. The discovery could lead to better uses for arsenic in therapies for leukaemia with fewer side effects.

Arsenic is a poisonous metalloid that has long been linked to an increased risk of cancers, diabetes, thickening of the skin, diseases of the liver and digestive complications. But, since the late 1700s, compounds of the metalloid have also been used to treat leukaemia. As drugs have improved, use of the metalloid has declined, though it is still used for a rare form called acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/14/medicalresearch.health?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Podcasts (Blood CancerCAST):

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Podcasts (Blood CancerCAST):

http://www.leukemia.org/all_page?item_id=395450

Leukemia / lymphoma links

Lymphoma Information Network
A comprehensive source of information on Hodgkin's Disease and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. People oriented site.
The Tree of Life
A cancer survivors story. This is an excellent page, full of help & advice, worth reading by all cancer patients & carers.
Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia Registry
A national registry whose goals are to assist with the diagnosis of LGL leukemia and collect/analyze information on patients with LGL leukemia.

What are the types of leukemia?

The types of leukemia are grouped by how quickly the disease develops and gets worse. Leukemia is either chronic (gets worse slowly) or acute (gets worse quickly):
Chronic leukemia—Early in the disease, the abnormal blood cells can still do their work, and people with chronic leukemia may not have any symptoms. Slowly, chronic leukemia gets worse. It causes symptoms as the number of leukemia cells in the blood rises.
Acute leukemia—The blood cells are very abnormal. They cannot carry out their normal work. The number of abnormal cells increases rapidly. Acute leukemia worsens quickly.

read more at http://www.medicinenet.com/leukemia/page2.htm

What is chronic leukaemia?

Leukaemia literally means ‘many white cells in the blood'. The white cells are part of the body’s immune system, and there are several sub-groups of white cells that have different sorts of roles in recognising and dealing with ‘invaders’ such as bacteria and viruses as well as other types of foreign protein

read more at http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/leukaemiachronic.htm