Dr Jeff Sharman - Predicting outcome to therapy

[AussieNeil]

In his latest Blog, Dr Sharman explains the difference between "prognostic" and "predictive" biomarkers as an introduction to articles available via pubmed

cll-nhl.com/2014/09/predict...

Predicting treatment outcomes in CLL - Editorial/introduction by Adrian Wiestner

bloodjournal.org/content/12...

Gene mutations and treatment outcome in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: results from the CLL8 trial by Stephan Stilgenbauer et al

bloodjournal.org/content/12...

Neil

Photo: It is so easy to get yourself tied up in knots trying to make sense of all these biomarkers - just like this stringybark eucalyptus tree.

[splashsplash]

Dr Sharman puts things unmated and mutated very clearly in Jo Blog language, thanks.

[Kwenda]

This all shows that we need a new dictionary..

Not just to understand these technical research papers but some new words to describe our CLL.

Technically CLL is a cancer and this very word causes immense anxiety with our partners, relatives and friends. Similarly if we use the word Leukaemia this initiates a similar response.

What we need are new descriptive words to use for our own individual branch or type of CLL.

Looking at this in an overly simplistic way; being diagnosed with CLL and 17p deleted is not the same as being diagnosed with 13 q deleted and mutated. So WHY should both types of CLL be all lumped together and called just Leukaemia, let alone to use the much dreaded word Cancer.?

My hope would be that this genetic research can come up with some new descriptive names that are less intimidating than us all being grouped together as ‘ having a Leukaemia Cancer ‘.

Dick