This second version of the disease, called acute leukemia, came in two further subtypes, based on the type of cancer cell involved. Normal white cells in the blood can be broadly divided into two types of cells—myeloid cells or lymphoid cells. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was a cancer of the myeloid cells. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was cancer of immature lymphoid cells. (Cancers of more mature lymphoid cells are called lymphomas.)
