Leukaemia cytogenetics / H. Jackson Woodliff.

  • Woodliff, H. Jackson.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Leukaemia cytogenetics / H. Jackson Woodliff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    46 leukaemia cytogenetics in the progression to leukaemia, this appears to be a reasonable working hypothesis and such chemicals and drugs should be used only when there are no suitable alternatives. The part played by chromosome damage due to the agents mentioned above and to many other drugs, such as streptonigrin and aspirin in carcino¬ genesis and tetragenesis is not yet clear and further investigations are indicated (Jarvik and Kato, 1968; Zellweger et al, 1967; Hecht et al, 1968). Virus Chromosomal abnormalities similar to those seen following exposure to radiation and radiomimetic chemicals may occur in a variety of viral infections both in vitro and in vivo. There is no evidence that such changes, which may be temporary, progress to acute leukaemia. More suggestive evidence for a viral aetiology comes from epidemiology and from analogy with animal leukaemia and with human Burkitt's lymphoma. Some Burkitt's lymphoma cells contain cytogenetic changes similar to those found in viral infected tissue culture cells but the significance of this is not yet clear (see p. 86). Conclusions The significance of cytogenetic changes in the aetiology of acute leukaemia is not yet clear. Visible chromosomal abnormalities cannot be found in some cases and cannot therefore be an aetiolo- gical factor in every patient. When they do occur they might be responsible for the cell becoming leukaemic, might be necessary for the progression of the disorder following some other primary stimulus or may merely be secondary changes. In favour of a primary involvement is the constancy of thechange in an individual patient and the general association of acute leukaemia with other conditions in which there are numerical or structural chromosomal abnormalities. Whether initiating the process or not, chromosomal abnormali¬ ties may be necessary for the progression of the disorder in some patients by giving the altered cells a growth advantage over those with a normal karyotype. In favour of the chromosomal changes being epiphenomena is the fact that they cannot be found in all cases; inherent in this notion is the fact that they are secondary changes resulting from