Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects immune system cells called lymphocytes. The term refers to many different types of lymphocyte cancer, actually 35 different subtypes. The disease is a malignant transformation of B or T cells and their subtypes.

What are the symptoms?

The disease is associated with painful swelling in the neck area, under the arm or around the groin. Lymph nodes or other tissues in the body may begin to enlarge your size. For example, the spleen is often enlarged in this type of cancer.

Enlarged lymph nodes when pressing on a vein or lymph vessel, such as a swelling, sometimes cause other symptoms not in the arm or leg, pain, numbness or tingling, or a feeling of bloating. An enlarged spleen can cause abdominal pain or discomfort. Most people do not develop other symptoms.

Other possible symptoms are:

• Often unexplained increase in body temperature;
• Chills;
• Unexplained weight loss;
• Night sweats;
• Lack of energy;
• Itching – up to 25% of sufferers complain of it most often in the lower part of the body, but it can appear anywhere on the body.

These symptoms are non-specific. This means that they can be caused by a number of other diseases or conditions unrelated to cancer. For example, they may be symptoms of the flu or another viral infection, but in these cases they will not last long.

In lymphocyte cancer, the symptoms last a long time and cannot be explained by an infection or other disease.

What are the causes?

The exact causes of the disease are not known. Several factors are associated with an increased risk, but it is not clear what their role is in the actual development of < em>lymphoma.

These risk factors are:

• Age – the risk of developing the disease increases with age. When the disease develops at an older age, then the prospects for the patient are worse. In the age group 20-24 years, the incidence of the development of the clinical condition is 2.4 cases per 100,000 people and increases to 46 cases per 100,000 people in the age group 60-64 years.

• Infections:
– HIV infection;
– Ebstein-Barr virus infection, one of the etiological factors of mononucleosis;
– Helicobacter infection pylori – a bacterium inhabiting the human digestive tract;
– Infection with hepatitis B and C viruses;
• Clinical conditions affecting the immune system
– HIV;
– autoimmune diseases;
– use of drugs to suppress the immune system – often therapy with such drugs is administered after organ transplantation
– hereditary immunodeficiency diseases;</ p>

• Exposure to toxic chemicals
– Carrying out an agricultural activity or any other activity that involves exposure to some toxic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides or benzene and other solvents;
– The use of hair dyes before 1980 has been associated with an increase in cases of lymphoma.
The presence of these risk factors does not necessarily mean the development of the disease. It is possible for a person to have all the risk factors and not develop blood cancer.

Treatment of lymphoma

Biotherapies, sometimes qualified as immunotherapy, are preferred for treatment because they use the body’s natural immunity against pathogens. These types of therapies are attractive because they provide an anti-cancer effect without many of the unwanted side effects of standard therapies.

There are many different types of biotherapies. Below are the most promising ones for treating lymphoma:
• Monoclonal antibodies;
• Cytokines;
• Vaccines – stimulate the immune system to build a specific reaction against cancer and thus prevent its recurrence.