Acute
leukemia is a malignancy arising from bone marrow
cells. Normal bone marrow contains immature cells
(including hematopoietic stem cells) that produce
mature blood cells including red blood cells
(carry oxygen), white blood cells (fight
infection), and platelets (prevent bleeding). When
some immature cells in the bone marrow become
malignant, they reproduce in great numbers and
crowd out the normal cells in the bone marrow.
This condition, called acute leukemia, prevents
production of normal cells.
