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Causes

By Mayo Clinic staff

Living With Cancer

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It's not clear what causes hairy cell leukemia. Doctors know that cancer occurs when cells develop errors in their DNA. In the case of hairy cell leukemia, mutations in the DNA cause your bone marrow stem cells to create too many white blood cells that don't work properly. Doctors don't know what causes the DNA mutations that lead to hairy cell leukemia.

Risk factors Symptoms
References
  1. Abeloff MD. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:2309.
  2. Hoffman R, et al. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06715-0..X5001-8--TOP&isbn=978-0-443-06715-0&uniqId=230100505-56. Accessed Feb. 2, 2012.
  3. Lichtman MA, et al. Williams Hematology. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2010. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=69. Accessed Feb. 2, 2012.
  4. Hairy cell leukemia treatment (PDQ): Patient version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/hairy-cell-leukemia/patient. Accessed Feb. 2, 2012.
  5. Grever MR, et al. Modern strategies for hairy cell leukemia. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2011;29:583.
  6. Rituxan (prescribing information). South San Francisco, Calif.: Genentech Inc.; 2009. http://www.rituxan.com/index.html. Accessed Feb. 2, 2012.
  7. Integrative medicine & complementary and alternative therapies as part of blood cancer care. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. http://www.lls.org/#/resourcecenter/freeeducationmaterials/treatment/integrativemedandcam. Accessed Feb. 2, 2012.
DS00673 March 21, 2012

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