Benzene Leukemia Law Blog : Benzene and Leukemia Lawyer & Attorney : Burke & Eisner Law Firm : Benzene Exposure, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

According to recent reports, a gene variant has been linked to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Down’s syndrome. Researchers have found that one in five cases of Down’s syndrome cases are associated with this type of cancer.

Variants Associated with Illness

The variants associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are reportedly found on the Janus kinase (JAK2) gene in the human body. These types of mutations are commonly found to be linked with myeloproliferative disorders.

The findings were discovered from a genetic analysis of bone marrow in a study conducted among 88 patients living with acute lymphoblastic leukemia associated with Down’s syndrome. The study also analyzed 109 patients with sporadic B-cell precursor childhood acute leukemia, 11 patients with Down’s syndrome associated with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia and 96 patients that we found to be negative of the JAK2 genetic mutation. In addition to the patient studies, doctors and researchers also looked at 23 leukemia cells lines.

Results of the Study

The study found that over 18 percent of the children with Down’s syndrome and acute lymphoblastic leukemia had the genetic variant known as R683 locus. The children with the JAK2 mutation were found to be younger on average when they were diagnosed with this form of leukemia.

“The association between JAK2 and two different types of malignancy is striking and suggests that the nature and location of the mutation is crucial in dictating the perturbation of downstream signaling and eventual cancer phenotype," explains Charles Mulligan, M.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee and one of the lead researchers in the studies.  

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

An interesting article talking about the discovery of a mutation in stem cells that may lead to a blood disorder.  The thought is that if they can isolate and treat this mutation it may lead to further discoveries and treatment for more acute leukemias.

A mutation in blood stem cells occurs in patients with a blood disorder called polycythemia vera (PV), scientists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center at Stanford University School of Medicine have confirmed.

The discovery suggests that development of a very specific inhibitor at the stem-cell level, to interfere with the pathway leading to the disease, could improve treatment for the cancer-causing disorder. According to research published in the April 3-7 early on-line edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, patients with PV -- a disease in which the patient's body makes too many red blood cells and which can lead to acute leukemia -- have a mutation expressed in the stem cell, the point at which the body's blood cells become structurally and functionally specialized.

The scientists discovered that a mutation in the JAK2 signaling pathway allows the cells to bypass the body's usual mechanism of red blood-cell production, the binding of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) to its receptor, a process which normally regulates the production of red blood cells. As a result of this intrinsic defect, the bone marrow produces excessive numbers of red blood cells.

"This discovery is important because if we can pinpoint an inhibitor that directly targets the JAK2 mutant allele, we can fight the disease without inhibiting normal stem cell differentiation. These patients could then still produce normal red blood cells, normal platelets and white blood cells," said Catriona H.M. Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and Director for Stem Cell Research at UCSD's Moores Cancer Center.

"The body is very utilitarian," added Jamieson, first author of the study. "There are primal pathways that are important for regenerating cells and tissues, and those are the same pathways that cancers use, subverting normal processes and using them for the wrong purpose. The discovery of this mutation means we can look toward interrupting these pathways, systematically, without wiping out the patient's normal blood cells."

Source:  Science Daily.com

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The incidence of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma has nearly doubled in the last 30 years.  Much of this increase is thought to be due to environmental exposure to carcinogens.

The National Cancer Institute has put out a great summary and Q&A on lymphoma advances.

Source:  National Cancer Institute

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Embryonic stem cells have the unique ability to transform themselves into almost any tissue of the human body. This ability to generate new tissue offers hope to millions who suffer from diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

And (I might add) Aplastic Anemia.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill loosening the restrictions on getting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.  George Bush, of course, has said he will veto it.

Articles of note on this:  Wisconsin State Journal, Detroit News

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Cancer clusters related to benzene is not an area that we spend a lot of time researching or pursuing cases in.  We focus primarily on benzene related leukemias and blood diseases that come from industrial exposures and we focus on individual cases and lawsuits. 

That said, cancer clusters do exist and some famous cases have come from them, such as the basis for the book Civil Action involving contaminated water in Massachusetts.  I received an email referring me to another blog with an entry or two about a possible cancer cluster in Nevada and the resulting CDC study.

South(west) Paw Blog "fallon,nv &sierra vista, az leukemia clusters"

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

This was a case study I found on a man who had worked in a petrochemical plant for many years.  His job was mixing benzene in a process that created a substance called caprolactam. The Caprolactam is used to make Nylon and Plastic.  After about 15 years working in this plant he developed Leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia.  This finding lead to bone marrow tests that found myelodysplastic syndrome.  This man (at the time of this article) was out of work at home still suffering from some symptoms of the myelodysplastic syndrome.

The typical time period of exposure for benzene induced leukemia is generally accepted as 1 to 15 years or so.  It can be longer, but this is the general time frame.

Myelodysplasia is the step in the cancer process that comes before aplastic anemia and acute myelogenous leukemia.  Not every case starts this way and progresses through the three diseases, but this is something that is seen.

One of the more interesting comments in this article was that the link between Aplastic Anemia and benzene has been seen "since the end of the 19th century".  Late 1800s, more than a hundred years.

Article: Benzene Induced Myelodysplastic Syndrome

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link