CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – It’s a rare form of leukemia with just about 1,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. every year. There is no cure for LGL leukemia, but doctors say many cases are slow-growing, so patients can live long lives and can be treated with – among other things – drugs that are currently FDA-approved for rheumatoid arthritis.
Chris Maslyk and his family are spending as much time as possible outdoors this summer. Even their favorite backyard game would have required more energy than Chris had.
“I was having trouble walking up a flight of stairs. I would be completely out of breath,” Chris remembers.
Blood tests showed Chris had an abnormally low hemoglobin level. It was a sign of something serious. Doctors diagnosed Chris with a form of leukemia he had never heard of before – LGL leukemia.
“LGL stands for what the cells look like. So, they’re large. They have these granules in them and they’re kind of a white blood cell called a lymphocyte,” explains Professor of Medicine and Director of the UVA Cancer Center, Dr. Thomas P. Loughran, MD.
Dr. Loughran was a fellow at a hospital in Seattle when he and his colleagues discovered this rare cancer. Now, he’s one of the few in the country specializing in the condition, which causes a person’s immune system to overreact.
“The problem is that their immune system is too strong. These LGL cells are killer cells. We use medicines to turn off the immune system,” Dr. Loughran further explains to Ivanhoe.
Doctors used one of the drugs, methotrexate, that are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, it had no impact on Chris, who kept getting sicker. Two drugs later, doctors found another immunosuppressant – Cytoxan – that worked.
Chris expresses, “I’m my same, normal self again, which I’m enjoying. It was a long time coming.”
Chris is not considered cured, since there is no cure for LGL leukemia, but he is able to manage it long-term, like a chronic disease. For more information, the University of Virginia cancer center’s LGL leukemia registry has more on the condition and the latest research.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Sources:
https://uvahealth.com/services/lgl-leukemia-program
https://uvahealth.com/services/lgl-leukemia/lgl-leukemia-registry
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: LGL LEUKEMIA: MANAGING A RARE FORM OF CANCER
REPORT: MB #5095
BACKGROUND: Large granular lymphocytic (LGL) leukemia is a type of chronic leukemia affecting white blood cells called “lymphocytes.” Lymphocytes are part of the body’s immune system and help fight certain infections. LGL leukemia is characterized by enlarged lymphocytes, containing noticeable granules, which can be seen when the blood is examined under the microscope. There are two types of LGL leukemia: T-cell (T-LGL) and natural killer cell (NK-LGL). Each type may be chronic (slow growing) or aggressive (fast-growing). The disease is rare: Only about 1,000 people per year are diagnosed with it. It affects men and women in roughly equal numbers, and most of those diagnosed are over 60 years old.
(Sources: https://www.lls.org/leukemia/large-granular-lymphocytic-leukemia
DIAGNOSING: Most people who are diagnosed with LGL leukemia will experience some symptoms like fatigue, anemia, night sweats, infections that keep coming back (neutropenia), weight loss, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. A healthcare professional may look for other symptoms, too, including decreased number of platelets in your blood, lower numbers of neutrophils (a subtype of white blood cell that’s an immune system “first responder”), and enlargement of your liver or spleen. To find out if you have LGL leukemia, a healthcare professional will analyze a sample of your blood. Your doctor may also take a sample of your bone marrow, often from your hip area, to look for abnormal cells. To determine which type of LGL leukemia you have, your doctor could use a laser technology called flow cytometry to identify whether T-cells or NK-cells are replicating too much.
(Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/leukemia/lgl-leukemia#diagnosis)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: Everyone responds differently to the disease and to treatments. Your doctor may perform a blood test about four months into treatment to check your progress. The goal is to have a neutrophil count above 500, circulating LGL cells in a normal range and no further need for transfusions. Alemtuzumab (Campath) is the next option. It is used to treat B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and has shown promising results in LGLL patients as well. Rare diseases present challenges in research because such small numbers of people are affected. However, researchers at UVA Cancer Center and around the world participate in clinical trials and research efforts to better understand the disease and possible treatments.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Joshua Barney
1 (434) 906-8864
Jdb9a@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
