{"id":31843,"date":"2025-04-08T01:15:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T19:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31843"},"modified":"2025-04-16T15:15:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T09:45:42","slug":"acute-promyelocytic-leukemia-apl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/acute-promyelocytic-leukemia-apl\/","title":{"rendered":"Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>CRISPR-Based Test for Rapid Diagnosis of Rare Blood Cancer: APL<\/p>\n<h2>What is Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL)?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL)<\/strong> is a <strong>rare but aggressive form of leukemia<\/strong>, a cancer affecting <strong>blood cells<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>APL is a <strong>subtype of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)<\/strong> and contributes to approximately <strong>10-15% of newly diagnosed AML cases<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The condition arises due to a <strong>genetic mutation<\/strong> where two genes\u2014<strong>PML and RARA<\/strong>\u2014<strong>fuse together abnormally<\/strong>, disrupting normal blood cell formation.<\/li>\n<li>This fusion leads to a significant <strong>drop in white blood cells and platelets<\/strong>, impairing the body\u2019s ability to <strong>fight infections<\/strong> and <strong>control bleeding<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>APL is particularly dangerous because it can cause <strong>sudden internal bleeding in vital organs<\/strong> like the <strong>lungs<\/strong> and <strong>brain<\/strong>, which can be <strong>fatal within days<\/strong> if left untreated.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Early diagnosis and treatment<\/strong>, however, can <strong>cure most patients<\/strong>, making <strong>timely detection crucial<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Symptoms and Diagnosis<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>median age<\/strong> of diagnosis in India is <strong>34 years<\/strong>, with a <strong>male-to-female ratio of 1.5:1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Common symptoms include:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sudden bleeding<\/strong> from gums and nose<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fatigue<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Unexplained fever<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Bone pain<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Although these symptoms may resemble other illnesses, <strong>histopathological parameters<\/strong> such as <strong>complete blood count (CBC)<\/strong> and <strong>cell morphology<\/strong> are essential for <strong>definitive diagnosis<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL)?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> APL is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), characterized by abnormal white blood cell formation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What causes APL?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> A specific chromosomal translocation t(15;17) involving the PML-RARA gene fusion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>What is unique about its treatment?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Unlike other leukemias, APL responds well to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide, achieving high cure rates.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>What are the main symptoms?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Symptoms include fatigue, bleeding, and increased infections, often due to reduced normal blood cells.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/rare-blood-cancer-now-detectable-using-a-crispr-based-test\/article69413020.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>APL is a rare, aggressive blood cancer characterized by abnormal promyelocyte cells, caused by a genetic mutation (PML-RARA fusion gene).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}