Rare Germline Variants Influence the Development of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Purpose: Germline missense variants of unknown significance in cancer-related genes are increasingly being identified with the expanding use of next-generation sequencing. The ataxia telangiectasia-mutated () gene on chromosome 11 has more than 1,000 germline missense variants of unknown significance and is a tumor suppressor. We aimed to determine if rare germline variants are more frequent in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) compared with other hematologic malignancies and if they influence the clinical characteristics of CLL.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation after prior targeted therapy for high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) can cure previously treated high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients if they are suitable for transplant through the graft-versus-leukemia effect. However, since the emergence of targeted therapies, the role of alloHCT for high-risk CLL is less clear. To address this question, we evaluated 108 high-risk CLL patients who underwent alloHCT from 2010 to 2018.