Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) occurs when the bone marrow makes too many abnormal white blood cells, or lymphocytes, that never become healthy, infection-fighting cells.
  
• As the number of these abnormal lymphocytes increases, they interfere with the production of other important blood cells, leading to multiple complications, including infection, easy bleeding and swollen lymph nodes.
  
• CLL usually gets worse slowly.
  
• CLL is the second most common form of leukemia in adults and rarely occurs in children. More than half of people diagnosed with CLL are older than 70, and cases rarely occur in individuals younger than 40.

Transplant – Led by Nobel Prize recipient Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, Hutchinson Cancer researchers have transformed bone marrow transplantation into standard treatment for leukemia and other blood cancers. The procedure is widely recognized as one of the greatest achievements in cancer treatment that has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients. Learn more »

Making transplantation less toxic – Dr. David Maloney has been leading clinical trials that seek to determine the effectiveness of a lower-intensity radiation conditioning approach, followed with an infusion of donated stem cells, in treating CLL patients.

Radioimmunotherapy – Dr. John Pagel has been investigating the use of a treatment technique known as radioimmunotherapy, which uses an antibody—known by the trade name Bexxar—designed to deliver a small, targeted dose of radiation to CLL cells. Because the antibody is able to bind to an antigen associated specifically with the cancer, this technique limits damage to the surrounding normal, healthy tissues.

Drug combinations – Clinical trials led by Dr. Pagel are evaluating the safety and effectiveness of Bexxar in combination with more traditional chemotherapy, including Rituximab, another antibody-based drug developed thanks to pioneering work from Hutchinson Center researchers