What is Canine Lymphoid Leukemia?
• Lymphoid leukemias are rare malignant cancers that originate from the white blood cells in the bone marrow. • Instead of maturing into normal cells, these precursor cells divide and replicate in an immature and non-functional form. • These cells may be found circulating in the blood stream and/or in the bone marrow. • Lymphoid leukemia can be classified by whether they appear in the blood stream or only appear in the bone marrow. They can be further classified as acute or chronic based on the biological behavior and timeframe of the disease. • Acute lymphoid leukemias have immature (blast) cells in the blood stream and/or bone marrow. • They are very aggressive in nature, divide rapidly, and without treatment death occurs shortly after diagnosis. • Some of the known causes of leukemia include radiation exposure and some viruses, but they are known to spontaneously develop too.
