September is Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month

join with the aacr to find better ways to prevent and treat leukemia and lymphoma

Leukemia and lymphoma are cancers that affect the blood and lymph system, respectively.

Leukemia starts in the cells that form blood. Normally, most blood cells develop from cells in the bone marrow called stem cells. In a person with leukemia, the bone marrow makes abnormal white blood cells (leukemia cells). Unlike normal blood cells, leukemia cells don’t die when they should. They can crowd out normal white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Consequently, it’s hard for normal blood cells to do their work. 

Experts estimated that 66,890 new cases of leukemia would be diagnosed in the United States in 2025 and 23,540 would die from this disease, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

There are several types of leukemia. The four main types of leukemia are: 

• acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which affects myeloid cells and grows quickly;
• chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), which affects myeloid cells and grows slowly;
• acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), which affects lymphoid cells and grows quickly; and
• chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which also affects lymphoid cells, but grows slowly.

CLL is one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. ALL is the most common type of leukemia in children. 

Lymphomas begin in cells of the lymph system, which is a part of the immune system. Lymph tissue is found throughout the body. As a result, lymphoma can begin almost anywhere. The disease occurs in two types: Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

Both types can occur in adults and children. An estimated 80,350 people in the United States will develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2025, according to the NCI. Approximately 19,390 people will die from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For Hodgkin lymphoma, 8,720 new cases and 1,150 deaths are estimated for 2025, according to the NCI.

More on research in leukemia and lymphoma

• Researchers used single-cell RNA sequencing to create an atlas of blood cell development in order to better understand how AML forms. They identified 12 distinct cell-state patterns of AML, which could lead to future improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of AML. Learn more on Cancer Research Catalyst, the AACR’s official blog.
• A phase III trial found that patients with newly diagnosed stage 3 or 4 Hodgkin lymphoma who received the immunotherapy nivolumab (Opdivo), along with standard chemotherapy, had better outcomes and fewer side effects than those who received the current standard-of-care treatment brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris). Learn more in the AACR’s Cancer Today magazine.
• In January 2024, the FDA announced that CAR T-cell therapies, which have been approved to treat certain lymphomas and leukemias, carry a black box warning label that indicates the risk of patients developing secondary T-cell malignancies. Several studies have since looked into this potential risk, with one group of researchers performing a systematic review of these studies and finding the rate of secondary cancers after CAR T-cell therapy was similar to the rate after other treatments. Learn more in this post on Cancer Research Catalyst.
• A large portion of Hodgkin lymphoma cases occur in adolescents and young adults with the risk of this cancer waning in early adulthood before rising again around the age of 60. Researchers examined the difference in Hodgkin lymphoma across the age spectrum and explained how their findings could help better stratify patients for treatment. Learn more on Cancer Research Catalyst.
• Among the topics discussed at the AACR’s inaugural Blood Cancer Discovery Symposium was multidrug resistance in AML. Learn more in this post on Cancer Research Catalyst.

How the AACR Supports leukemia and lymphoma research

Hematologic Malignancies Working Group

The AACR sponsors a Hematologic Malignancies Working Group, whose mission is to analyze the current state of the field, identify opportunities for innovation to accelerate progress, and assist in guiding the AACR’s ongoing and future programs and initiatives dedicated to saving lives from blood-based cancers and other related diseases.

Lymphoma-Focused Conferences

In June 2025, the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) was held in Lugano, Switzerland by the Foundation for the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR) in cooperation with the AACR, the Foundation for the European School of Oncology (ESOF), and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). The conference included talks on the latest advances in treatment and the importance of international collaborative research.

In June 2026, the AACR will hold a meeting on Advances in Malignant Lymphoma: Maximizing the Basic-Translational Interface for Clinical Application.

Supporting Research

The AACR awards grants to investigators with promising research related to leukemia and lymphoma. Grants in place include the following:

• In 2025, Sean E. Healton, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, received the AACR Hematologic Malignancies Research Fellowship. The aim of his work is to understand how lymphomas become like stem cells, which can lead to relapse. As part of his research, he plans to test at least two compounds to prevent this process.
• In 2025, Maria Florencia Cayrol, PhD, of the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine (IByME – CONICET), received an AACR Maximizing Opportunity for New Advancements in Research in Cancer (MONARCA) Grant for Latin America. She is examining how thyroid hormones may impact how patients with T-cell lymphomas respond to treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors.
• In 2024, Denisse A. Castro Uriol, MS, MD, of the University of San Martín de Porres, received an AACR Maximizing Opportunity for New Advancements in Research in Cancer (MONARCA) Grant for Latin America. She is studying the molecular basis and transformation risk in HTLV-1-associated adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.

for more information

There are many different types of leukemia and lymphoma in adults and children. For more information on these different diseases, please see:

• These pages on leukemia in adults: acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, and hairy cell leukemia.
• These pages on lymphoma in adults: Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, primary central nervous system lymphoma, and AIDS-related lymphoma.
• These pages on leukemia and lymphoma in children and adolescents: childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, childhood acute myeloid leukemia, and childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma.