Prognostic markers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the most common leukemia type in Western countries. Even incidence of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is high, this disease remained beyond interest for a very long time. However, in the last few years the view of this disease fundamentally changed and due to intensive study, new knowledge especially on pathogenesis, prognostic factors and therapy based on intensive therapeutic procedures were made. Today we know that usage of classical prognostic factors is insufficient for prognosis evaluation in the individuals. However modern (IgVH mutation status, cytogenetic abberations) and new markers (LPL/ADAM29 ratio, microRNA, markers of angiogenesis etc) have potential to distinguish patients in early stages to groups with significantly different prognosis and predict clinical course of the disease.