The Etiology of Acute Childhood Leukemias

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most common childhood cancer, accounting for close to 25% of newly diagnosed cancers in children less than 15 years of age. Leukemia incidence rates are reasonably constant at 5 per 100.000 person-years, with 80% of the cases being ALL. A variety of hypotheses regarding the etiology and potential pathogenic mechanism of childhood ALL have been described. As with other cancers, multiple steps lead to clinically detectable leukaemia from a preleukemic precursor cell. Neonatal events can play a role in the development of childhood ALL because evidence of the leukemic event can b…