Chronic Neutrophilic Leukaemia CNL

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What is Chronic Neutrophilic Leukaemia CNL?

Leukaemia in general, arises from cells located in the bone marrow. The bone marrow is the soft, spongy tissue located in the centre of most long bones and is responsible for the production of the cellular components of blood; namely white cells, red cells and platelets. Lymphoblasts and myeloblasts are found in the bone marrow and are normal precursor cells of white and red blood cells. These lymphoblasts are influenced by many endogenous factors such as proteins and cytokines to differentiate into mature white and red blood cells. Normally, leukaemia occurs when there is abnormal proliferation of lymphoblasts and myeloblasts in the bone marrow . It may then secondarily affect the blood, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, bones, joints, central nervous system, testes and skin.

In the case of Chronic Neutrophilic Leukaemia, this is a very rare neoplasm that has recently been recognised as a distinct entity by the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of haemopoietic malignancies. It is characterised by sustained peripheral blood neutrophilia (excess white blood cells) and is distinct because there is no evidence of dysplasia (abnormality) in any of the cell lineages and there is no associated bone marrow fibrosis.

Who gets Chronic Neutrophilic Leukaemia CNL?

CNL is a very rare disease. At 2002, there had only been 129 cases of CNL reported in literature. Chronic neutrophilic leukemia is a disease of the elderly with the mean age of diagnosis being 62 years and there seems to be a 2:1 male:female ratio.