The novel therapies offers the possibility of changing everything, but the reality of the CLL world is slow in catching up. On my blog, bkoffman.blogspot.com , Professor Stilgenbauer reviews how the significance of predictive and prognostic factors may differ in the world of chemo-immunotherapy versus the novel therapies such as ibrutinib or idelalisib.
Please take a moment to check out the post that includes references to some of the original research on prognostic factors.
Thanks Brian; lots of good info there. A rapid unravelling of the mystery of what treatments work best for the different CLL genome variants will be a huge breakthrough for those facing treatment. Your statement
"One possible example seems to be that patients with 17p deletion respond differently when treated upfront with ibrutinib versus when treated after they have relapsed with 17p deletion." is particularly encouraging. How good it will be to have hard evidence on which is the best path - which is presumably treatment prior to relapse. Having effective diagnostic testing can't come fast enough in my opinion.
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