Leukemia causes blood cells, usually white blood cells, to grow uncontrollably. These abnormal cells not only fail to function properly, but also decrease the production and growth of healthy blood cells. Leukemia can affect adults and children, and accounts for 33 percent of cancer cases in children under 14, according to the Leukemia Research Foundation. Although one of the most common treatments for leukemia is chemotherapy, there are many other types of effective treatment.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays, similar to X-rays, to damage or destroy cancer cells. To treat leukemia, doctors deliver radiation using external beam radiation which utilizes a source outside the body to focus the rays on an area of accumulated leukemia cells, such as the spleen. In some cases, doctors perform total-body irradiation, which treats the whole body. Patients often receive this treatment prior to receiving a stem cell transplant.
Biological Therapy
Biological therapy describes a group of treatments that utilize medications that enhance or suppress the immune system: hematopoetic growth factors, such as erythropoietin, interleukin-3 and colony stimulating factor, affect the growth of blood cells; erythropoietin stimulates the production of red blood cells; and interleukin-3 and colony stimulating factors affect the progenitor cells, or the cells that develop into a specific type of cell. These medications help to promote bone marrow proliferation to induce the body to fight the leukemia cells, according to Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Monoclonal antibodies, another type of biological therapy, are medications made to mimic antibodies, or proteins, produced by the immune system. The monoclonal antibodies target specific antigens found on the cancer cells, eventually killing them.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy, also known as molecularly targeted drugs, uses drugs that block the growth of cancer cells by interfering with molecules within the cells. For example, imatimib, a Food and Drug Administration approved medication to treat chronic myeloid leukemia, works by interfering with the protein Bcr-Abl which promotes continuous proliferation. By interfering with this protein, the cancer cells fail to divide and spread.
Stem Cell Transplant
Cells in the bone marrow, known as stem cells, continually produce new blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. A stem cell transplant replaces the diseased cells with health cells that produce healthy blood cells. Before the stem cell transplant, doctors use high doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy to kill as many of the diseased cells in the bone marrow as possible.
