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Abstract
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a monoclonal disorder characterized by the accumulation of long lived CD5+ B-lymphocytes mostly in a state of quiescent phase (G0) due to inhibition of apoptosis. Data from united the United States Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Registry (SEER) estimate the USA incidence to be 3.7/100.000 with a median age at diagnosis of 72 years.
The incidence of CLL in men is twice that of women. A retrospective study of women noted a non significant trend towards reduced risk of CLL with increasing parity. CLL B-cells express high levels of anti-apoptotic protein bcl-2. In addition, the neoplastic B-cells of patients with CLL also characteristically express high levels of other anti-apoptotic proteins, such as bcl-xl, mcl-1 and bag-1, and low levels of the pro-apoptotic proteins bax or bcl-Xs. Bcl-2 and bax proteins form homodimers and heterodimers that influence the susceptibility to apoptosis.