My Bone Marrow… My Blood… My Life… By Alpha-Bots December 2010

Meet your Skeletal System and your Bone Marrow 206 bones Large and small All contain bone marrow at their core Bone marrow is a yellow spongy material at the core of our bones Since birth, bone marrow in all bones produces blood cells When all grown up, bone marrow in large bones only produce fresh blood cells

What Kind of Cells are in My Blood? RBC: Carry O 2 throughout the body WBC: Fight off disease i.e. viruses and bacteria Platelets: Clot and mend bruises

Percentage of Blood Cells Blood accounts for 7% of the body weight Light Blue: Red Blood Cells ~ 4-6 million Turquoise: Platelets ~ thousand Dark Blue: White Blood cells ~ thousand

Where does my Blood come from? Just like other cells in the body that die and get replaced every day, the same happens with blood cells. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. The DNA is programmed to cause the cells to divide and multiply producing new cells. Did you know that before we are born, our blood cells are formed in the fetus’s liver and spleen?

Lineages of a Stem Cell Leukemia happens when immature blood cells pour into the blood stream Bone marrow makes stem cells Stem cells go through several steps to transform into a MATURE blood cell (i.e. RBC, WBC, platelets or lymphocytes) Stem Cell Lymphocytes White Blood cells Red blood cells Platelets

Blood Cell Formation Overview Red Blood Cells 7 days 3-4 mitotic divisions White Blood Cells Platelets

What goes wrong? Something changes in the DNA’s tumor suppressing gene; it does not function properly due to a gene mutation Stem cells produced by the bone marrow start dividing in abnormal ways Immature stem cells reach the blood stream Blood stream contains immature cells and cannot function normally as a result

Types of Leukemia Depending on the lineage: If White Lineage: Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) If Lymphocyte Lineage: Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Acute: Severe, progresses quickly, stem cells produced in bone marrow develop into immature cells in their early stages of development, resulting in immature blast cells pouring into the blood stream Chronic: Long-term, stem cells produced in bone marrow develop into immature cells in their late stages of development, resulting in immature cells (that almost look normal) pouring into the blood stream

Symptoms Pain Anemia (lack of MATURE red blood cells to carry O 2 ) Fatigue (lack of MATURE red blood cells to carry O 2 Bleed easily and extensively (due to poor clotting and lack of MATURE platelets) Get sick easily (due to lack of MATURE white blood cells)

What Causes Leukemia: DNA Mutation as a result of … Exposure to radiation Exposure to chemicals Smoking Viruses-extremely rare. There is a change in the tumor-suppressing gene

Leukemia Statistics in USA Total Leukemia patients in the US: 245,225 Americans, including 44,790 new cases diagnosed each year More common in men than in women More common in Americans of European descent rather than African Leading cause of death among children under 15

Impact of LLS Work – Research Survival rates have doubled or tripled over the last 4 decades This slide adopted from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Research In Oregon We are curing cancer in Portland! –OHSU researcher Dr. Brian Druker, with a grant funded by LLS, developed a drug whose targeted therapy kills cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone – meaning that some leukemia patients can take a daily pill and have a 95% survival rate with minimal side effects! Research funds continue to support Dr. Druker as well as other OHSU and University of Oregon researchers. This slide adopted from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

How can Leukemia be Cured? Treatment includes the following: Chemotherapy Radiation therapy Bone marrow transplant Tissue Engineering; Quantum Dots research at OHSU to develop drugs that will only target the cancer cells

How we are helping find a cure Periodic blood screening for to detect immature blood cells as early as possible Periodic DNA analysis to check for mutations Our school raised money for the Leukemia- Lymphoma Society Pennies for Patients Campaign in 2003 through Our school won 3 rd place in 2006, and 1 st place in 2008 for the highest average donation per student.

How can we protect ourselves? Stop the DNA Mutation Eat healthy Exercise Do not smoke Do not expose self to radiation Do not expose self to chemicals Rest when you get sick, so you can regain your strength faster

A Word of Thanks to … Leukemia-Lymphoma Society Dr. Nazmul Hoque, Hospital name Dr. Ahmed, Hospital name OHSU Biomedical Engineering Labs NPR interview with Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee about the History of Cancer Various internet sources

The End Thank you for your attention! Any questions?