iwCLL 2017 | Key questions to be discussed at iwCLL 2017: cancer genetics, immunology and categorizing patients

Federico Caligaris-Cappio, MD of Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, talks about the key questions to be discussed at International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL), which will be held in New York in 2017 (http://www.iwcll2017.org/). Prof. Caligaris-Cappio explains that in cancer genetics, there is a wealth of data at the moment and it is important to find a common theme, which he believes, may happen at the meeting. In terms of immunology, he believes that the relationships between CLL and the immune system will be clarified more, which in turn, will lead to treatments to revert the immune deficiency of CLL patients. Further, Prof. Caligaris-Cappio explains that we have moved from a situation where there were no drugs for CLL, to a situation with many drugs and it is important to establish, which drugs are key and in which patients. He further points out that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach does not work in CLL. It is important to discriminate categories of patients and treat them in a different way and this will be another crucial theme at the meeting.