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 Awareness Month

Leukemia and lymphoma are cancers that affect the blood or bone marrow. 

Leukemia starts in the tissues 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 cells, red cells, and platelets. Consequently, it’s hard for normal blood cells to do their work. 

Experts expect 62,770 new cases of leukemia in the United States in 2024, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Also, 23,670 deaths are expected.

Major Types of Leukemia

There are four major types of leukemia:

AML and CLL are the most common types of leukemia in adults. ALL is the most common type in children. 

Types of Lymphoma

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. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma are the most common types of NHL in adults. Specifically, an estimated 80,620 people in the United States will develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2024, according to NCI. Approximately 20,140 people will die from the disease.

one person’s story

Alexander Gonzalez Franco received a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He had chemotherapy, but it stopped working for him. However, he found improvement with CAR T-cell therapy. Read his story in the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2022.

the latest on research in leukemia and lymphoma

  • Patients with multiple myeloma, leukemia, and lymphoma may benefit from BiTEs — bispecific T-cell engagers. Learn more in this post on Cancer Research Catalyst.
  • Learn about multidrug resistance in acute myeloid leukemia and improvement of clinical trials in smoldering multiple myeloma in this post on Cancer Research Catalyst, the AACR’s official blog.

What is the AACR Doing in leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancer research?

Lymphoma- and Leukemia-Focused Conferences

  • In June 2024, the AACR held the Fourth AACR International Meeting. The theme was, Advances in Malignant Lymphoma: Maximizing the Basic-Translational Interface for Clinical Application. AACR worked with the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) and the Blood Cancer Discovery journal. Experts from around the world presented and discussed the latest findings on lymphoma biology, etiology, epigenetics, and genomics. Furthermore, participants discussed new approaches in CAR T-cell therapy, and chemo-free approaches to lymphoma.

Supporting Research

The AACR awards grants to investigators with promising research related to leukemia and lymphoma.

Recent grants

  • The 2024 AACR-AstraZeneca Career Development Award for Physician-Scientists, in Honor of José Baselga, was awarded to Jennifer Kwan, MD,  PhD, University Health Network. She will study “Targeting of PPAR signaling to treat cancer-related lymphedema.”
  • Mingzeng Zhang, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received the 2023 AACR-Incyte Immuno-oncology Research Fellowship to study “Quantitative immune profiling of follicular lymphoma for precision therapy.”
  • The 2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat) was awarded to Katherine Rae Antel, MD, PhD, University of Cape Town, to support her study of “Liquid biopsy for the diagnosis of lymphoma in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Previous Grants

  • Maria Caterina Rotiroti, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received the 2022 AACR-Amgen Fellowship in Clinical/Translational Cancer Research. This supports her work in “Engineering CAR T cells for enhanced signaling” in lymphoid neoplasms.
  • Kara Cicero, MD, MPH, University of Washington, received the 2022 AACR-Bristol Myers Squibb Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship. It supports her study of “Prevalence & Risk Factors of MGUS in a Black Sub-Saharan African Population.”
  • Charlotte Graham, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, won the 2022 AACR-Genmab Non-Hodgkin B-Cell Lymphoma Research Fellowship. Her study involves “Mechanisms of cytopenia associated with CAR T cell therapy” in lymphoid neoplasms.
  • The 2022 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat) grant went to Leonardo Alves de Souza Rios, PhD, University of Cape Town.  He is investigating “Pathobiology of HIV-associated lymphomas- Defining the role of HIV-1 Tat.”
  • Yadira Soto-Feliciano, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received the 2023 AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award for her work in “Revealing cancer epigenomes through the lens of chromatin adaptor proteins.”
  • Rizine Robert Mzikamanda, MBBS, MMED, Baylor College of Medicine, received the 2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat) grant. He is studying “Acute Leukemia Diagnostics in Malawian Children.”
  • Hai Dang Nguyen, PhD, University of Minnesota, received the 2022 AACR Career Development Award to Further Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Cancer Research to study ”Delineating ATR response in U2AF1 mutant hematologic malignancies.”
  • The 2022 AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research Grant was awarded to Xiaotian Zhang, PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is working to “Dissect the novel function of mutant NPM1 on transcriptional hijacking” in myeloid neoplasms.

Fellowship

  • The recipient of the 2019 AACR-Cancer Research UK Transatlantic Fellowship, taking effect in 2021, was Ching Ting (Justin) Loke, MD, PhD, University of Birmingham, to study “Understanding the clonal structure and chemoresistance of ASXL1/RUNX1 AML.”

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: