iwCLL 2017 | iwCLL 2017 program: the biology of CLL, treatment options and the relapsed/refractory setting

Nicholas Chiorazzi, MD from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY provides an overview of the program of the iwCLL 2017 meeting to be held in New York in May 2017 (http://www.iwcll2017.org/). According to Prof. Chiorazzi, the first part of the program is built on questions concerning the biology and biologic timeframe of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and will cover questions such as what are the factors that go into the development of CLL, what are the genetic abnormalities, and are there inherited genetic factors? Studies investigating these questions are ongoing and looking at large populations of patients and there are also genetic studies of isolated CLL clones. The second part of the program will cover the newly diagnosed patients and/or the patient who is at the point of the disease where they experience initial therapy. The questions that will be addressed are: what is the diagnostic, prognostic and predictive workup and how do you treat a patient? The third day is devoted to understanding and developing therapies for patients who have relapsed or are refractory. Further, there are sessions on why this transition from being responsive to a single agent to not being responsive anymore, occurs.