What is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)?

Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells, starting in the bone marrow (the sponge-like tissue in the center of bones). White blood cells are part of the immune system and help protect the body from disease, however in Leukemia conditions there is an overproduction of abnormal white cells that do not protect the body or fight disease, and in fact the body has a harder time fighting infections.

In children with acute leukemia, the bone marrow creates too many white blood cells which grow quickly generating acute Leukemia (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) and causing them to build up in the liver, spleen and lymph nodes, when cells grow slowly, it is called chronic leukemia, Most childhood leukemia is of the acute type, children rarely get chronic types of leukemia.

How common is ALL in Mexico?

ALL is the most common type of childhood cancer worldwide. Hispanic children present the highest rates, in our country there are 89.5 cases per million in children under 18 years old (Rivera-Luna et al., 2017), and is the second death cause according to INEGI data from 2020. In the central region of Mexico incidences are growing up particularly in states like Puebla, Tlaxcala y Oaxaca.

In addition the survival rates for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Mexico are poor: 61.4% compared with the 90% of children cured in developed countries, using the same chemotherapy treatments (Muñoz-Aguirre, P. et al., 2021).

Why are the ALL rates so high in Mexican children?

Cancer is a multifactorial disease, exposure to environmental carcinogens, unfavorable health conditions and genetic susceptibility of the Mexican population are some of the most well studied factors in the etiology of Leukemia. The lack of accurate and timely diagnosis, the limited access to specialized health services,as well as the high toxicity associated with treatment also contribute to the low survival of the disease in our country (Rivera-Luna, R. et al., 2017 ; Zapata-Tarrés, M. et al., 2021).