What Causes CLL Development?

[ButterflyWine]

Hi All!

I've got a dx of MBL and haven't been given any info on at all. I'm wondering 1) What caused the MBL, and 2) What can cause it to develop into CLL.

Can anyone help, or point me in the direction of some online resources please?

[scryer99]

Others will have more detail, but short answers:

MBL's causes are not well understood. It highly correlates with age, and a fair number of older folks eventually are diagnosed with MBL. It has minimal health effects, though impact on immune system is being investigated.

MBL's progression to CLL has not been proven to be influenced by any known external factor (diet, comorbidities, environment). Roughly 1-2% of "high-count" MBL diagnoses progress to CLL. Low count MBL diagnoses have a 4x incidence of progression to blood disorders of some type, but that is 4x a very low number to start with, so in practice, low-count MBL means very little.

Even if you do progress to CLL, a large percentage of CLLers never progress to treatment. And treatments for CLL have improved markedly over the last five years.

In short: don't worry about it, go live your life. Make sure you have your annual physical and blood work done. That's it.

cllsociety.org is a good starting point to learn more.

[Kwenda]

This new research is interesting, which does show that MBL can affect the functioning of your immune system. See this recent post on the subject.

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Dick

[LeoPa]

Short answer: nobody knows. Probably a mix of environmental and genetical factors coming together at the wrong time.