Chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Cinderella is becoming a star

Abstract

It has taken time for the status of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to change within the scientific community. CLL, characterized by the accumulation of seemingly innocent long-lived monoclonal B cells exhibiting mature morphologies, has long been considered the "Cinderella" of blood cancers. CLL is receiving increasing attention from biologists and clinicians, however, because understanding of this disease may elucidate the association between lymphoid tumous and autoimmunity as well as help to define the relationships between antigen stimulation and malignant transformation. © 2009 The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.