Non- Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that has been always associated with many risk factors. However, many of the non- Hodgkin lymphoma do not actually have any risk factors and moreover, the cause of the lymphoma is unknown. Almost always we inherit from our parents the good and the bad. There are many people with certain cancer type who have mutations of their DNA, which they have inherited from their parents. However, studies have shown that non- Hodgkin lymphoma is not one of these cancer types. That is to say that if one of yor parents or even both suffer from lymphoma, there is no increased risk of you suffering from lymphoma as well. So one major risk factor in cancer cases, inheritance, has been removed from this equation. Furthermore, scientists say that the mutations that happen in your DNA and are related with this lymphoma type actually happen after you are born and they can not be inherited. Things that are known for certain in non- Hodgkin lymphoma is that often the mutations that result in this disease are the result of exposure to chemicals that cause cancer, to radiation or are the result of infection. However, in most of the lymphoma cases, these mutations actually appear for no particular reason. Age seems to play a role in non- Hodgkin lymphoma. Studies show that as we grow older we tend to develop this type of cancer. The reason is, however, still unknown. The only thing that scientists can say is that most of the lymphoma patients are older people. Another known cause of lymphoma is translocation of your DNA. Translocations mean that one of your chromosomes breaks off and attaches itself to another chromosome. Somewhere along this process an error can occur that ultimately leads to lymphoma. The genes that suppress cancer can be, by mistake, turned off and thus you can develop lymphoma or the genes that are responsible for cancer can be turned on. These two are though to be the most common lymphoma causes. Many more studies are taking place as we speak, because there has to be more to lymphoma than we know. Some new discoveries have been made that hopefully will lead to a better understanding of lymphoma, its causes and thus will to the development of a new, more efficient and less expensive lymphoma treatment.
Related Articles -
lymphoma, cutaneous t cell lymphoma,
|