Genetic Biomarkers for Risk of CLL Progression among high-count MBLs

NARRATIVE: High-count monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (HC MBL) is a precursor state to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); between 1-5% a year will progress to CLL requiring therapy. Although HC MBL individuals technically do not have leukemia, these individuals are recommended to be followed annually for evidence of disease progression, and this watch and wait strategy causes anxiety and distress. Thus there is an important need to identify factors that drive progression requiring CLL therapy among these individuals with HC MBL, and this application addresses this need by evaluating two genetic biomarkers.