Blood Cancer Trivia

By sharing my journey with blood cancer online, I have had the privilege to engage multiple other patients online. A little over a year and a half ago, I had the honor to meet a fellow lymphoma patient, that I met from YouTube, in person! I know what they say about meeting people online BUT with a connection like we had, we couldn’t resist! Alison was originally diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma and later relapsed. We met online as she was beginning her stem cell transplant. After we were both declared in remission, we met in Florida! Light and fun, we thought we would test ourselves about the diseases that we have been advocating for over the past few years!

Test your knowledge about some facts and terms related to blood cancer and, in the comments below, let me know how you did playing trivia along with us!

Questions

1. Reed-Sternberg cells are present in:

a. Hodgkin lymphoma
b. Non-hodgkin lymphoma

2. Humoral immunity is in the:

a. B cells
b. T cells

3. Which cells make antibodies?

a. T cells
b. B cells

4. Chronic leukemias grow very quickly.

a. True
b. False

5. What cell matures in the thymus?

a. B cells
b. T cells

6. Cancer is the second leading cause of global death.

a. True
b. False

7. What is the spreading of cancer within the body called?

a. Metastasis
b. Homeostasis

8. Melanoma is a type of:

a. Blood cancer
b. Skin cancer

Answers

1. Hodgkin lymphoma

Reed-Sternberg cells are an abnormal type of cell. Lymphomas that have Reed-Sternberg cells are classified as Hodgkin lymphoma. If Reed-Sternberg cells are not present, the lymphoma is classified as non-Hodgkin lymphoma.¹

2. B cells

The two parts of the adaptive immune system are humoral immunity and cellular immunity. B cells produce antibodies as part of humoral immunity.²

3. B cells

B lymphocytes produce antibodies that recognize and attach to foreign invaders, such as viruses or bacteria.³

4. False

Acute leukemias are faster growing leukemias, such as ALL or AML. Chronic leukemias, like CLL or CML, tend to grow more slowly.⁴

5. T cells

T cells, which are part of the immune system, mature in the thymus. B cells mature in the bone marrow.³

6. True

According to the World Health Organization, cancer was the second leading cause of death in the world in 2018.⁵

7. Metastasis

Metastasis is the spread of cancer to different areas of the body. Homeostasis is the process of maintaining a fairly stable internal environment.⁶

8. Skin cancer

Sometimes confused with the similar word myeloma, melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops from melanocytes. Melanoma is much less common than non-melanoma skin cancer and is more likely to spread or invade deeper skin layers.