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3 Summary Title: Study of new prognostic markers in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemic disorder of adults in Western hemisphere. It is characterized by clonal proliferation and accumulation of morphologically mature lymphocytes in bone marrow, peripheral blood and lymphatic tissues. Clinical course of CLL is extremely heterogeneous with some patients living for decades without need of therapy while others succumbing to the disease within several years. Thus, there has been great interest in identifying prognostic markers that could be used to distinguish patients with an aggressive form of CLL, because they might benefit from early intervention. The process of angiogenesis has been shown to be crucial for growth and metastasizing ability of solid tumors. Angiogenesis in "liquid" tumors was supposed to be less important, nevertheless numerous recent studies have shown enhanced angiogenesis in many hematological malignancies including CLL. Elevated levels of circulating angiogenic cytokines and increased expression of genes encoding angiogenic factors have been reported in recent years in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) but data regarding their prognostic and predictive significance are still limited. Therefore, in the... |
