Lecture 2: Malignant haematopological disease Flashcards
What is a myeloblast and why is it worrying if you see one in the periphery?
A very early neuttrophils precursor- in the periphery it is indicative of a leukaemia
What do eosinophils and basophils look like?
Eosinophils stain pink and basophils are dark blue, both with lots of cytoplasmic granules
Why does blood pressure drop during an allergic reaction?
Histamines are released which are vasodilators so plasma leaks out into the tissue
What are monocytes?
Also known as macrophages, can be specific to a specific tissue type eg Kupffer cells
What can cause neutrophilia?
Infection, inflammation, pregnancy, malignancy
What causes monocytosis?
Acute or chronic infection, connective tissue disease
What causes eosinophilia?
Allergy, parasites, drugs
What is neutropenia and what are the consequences of this?
Too few neutrophils- results in more infections
How can you tell if RBCs are a normal size?
They should be the size of a B cell nucleus
What are some causes of immunodeficiency?
Inherited e.g. SCIDs, HIV, drug- induced lymphopenia
What is the difference between a lymphoma and a leukaemia?
Lymphoma is a disease of a solid organ e.g. lymph nodes or spleen where as leukaemia is a disease of the blood cells/bone marrow (but they do overlap)
Is an acute or chronic infection more serious?
Acute because this tends to arise from over-proliferation of immature cells
What are the two categories that haematological malignancies can be split into?
Myeloid (innate cells) or lymphoid (B and T cells)
What techniques are used to classify a malignancy?
Morphology in blood smears, immunophenotyping, cytogenetics and molecular studies- specific molecules and surface markers are on specific cell types
What are blast cells?
Very early precursors which are seen in leukaemia
What technique can be used for immunophenotyping?
flow cytometry
Give an example of how genetics can help identify a cancer.
Using karyotyping, we can see if there is any translocations e.g. in chronic myeloid leukaemia part of chromosome 9 has translocated to chromosome 22- Philadelphia chromosome
What is acute leukaemia?
An over-proliferation of blast cells, can be myeloid or lymphoblastic and involves very low or high blood count (either a lot of blast cells in periphery or blast cells prevent other cells leaving bone marrow), anaemia, low platelet count
What is chronic myeloid leukaemia?
A clonal disorder of bone marrow stem cells caused by enhanced tyrosine kinase activity, can be treated with TK inhibitors. Very large spleen and higher than expected mature cells in periphery
How is chronic lymphoblastic leukaemia recognised?
By smear cells in blood film which are destroyed B cells, as they are more fragile and break when the slide is being made
How can a lymphoma be identified?
A large number of lymphocytes, swollen lymph nodes
