B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), also known as chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL), is the most common type of leukemia. Leukemias are abnormal and malignant neoplastic proliferations ("cancers") of the white blood cells (leukocytes). CLL involves a particular subtype of white blood cells, which is a lymphocyte called a B cell. B cells originate in the bone marrow, develop in the lymph nodes, and normally fight infection. In CLL, the DNA ...
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B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), also known as chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL), is the most common type of leukemia. Leukemias are abnormal and malignant neoplastic proliferations ("cancers") of the white blood cells (leukocytes). CLL involves a particular subtype of white blood cells, which is a lymphocyte called a B cell. B cells originate in the bone marrow, develop in the lymph nodes, and normally fight infection. In CLL, the DNA of a B cell is damaged, so that it can't fight infection by producing antibodies. Additionally, they grow out of control and accumulate in the bone marrow and blood, where they crowd out healthy blood cells.
CLL is a disease of adults, but in rare cases it can occur in teenagers and occasionally in children (inherited). Most (>75%) people newly diagnosed with CLL are over the age of 50, and the majority are men.
Most people are diagnosed without symptoms as the result of a routine blood test that returns a high white blood cell count, but as...
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