Blood Markers for Leukemia

[Elaine1027]

I heard recently on a tv show that there are blood tests that will confirm whether you are likely to get leukemia.  Both my parents died of leukemia in 2009.  My father had AML, my mother had CML.  Can anyone give me some information I am seeking?

I was asked to have a blood test taken in 2009, and my doctor then said there was something they would watch, but then she retired, and I have no idea what she was talking about.

Any info would be a benefit!  Thank you!

[Ken_PA]

Hi again. Since you were good enough to answer someone else's question here, I did a little looking and see the following which is from 2009:

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20090211/blood-clue-may-predict-adult-leukemia

"Landgren's team studied blood samples provided by 45 CLL patients up to six years before they knew their CLL diagnosis. The researchers ran two different tests on the blood samples, looking for monoclonal B cells.

All but one of the patients had monoclonal B cells in their pre-CLL blood samples, and 41 out of 45 had monoclonal B cells show up on both blood tests -- so monoclonal B cells could be a marker of future CLL."

Note that is about CLL, not AML or CML.

"monoclonal" means they are genetically all the same, but not cancerous. You can think of that as a condition that *might* progress to leukemia. If you have another test now, and the degree of clonality has not worsened, I'd suppose that's a sign that can set your mind at ease.

[Ken_PA]

Hi, some cancers are more heritable than others. I don't know the answer to your question, but it's likely to be genetic testing, looking for some specific gene. I'd suggest getting a copy of that test you had and to keep copies of any and all testing.

Genetics are not destiny, either, as your environment and lifestyle can play a big part.