Fighting Resistance in CLL (FIRE-CLL)

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a common cancer an its incidence and burden will further increase in our aging Western society. CLL is clinically very diverse, ranging from death within 2-3 years to indolent disease, which is determined by both, the genetic background of the patient but also from the supporting and protecting microenvironment of the cancer cells. One of the clinical relevant questions and challenges is to predict the prognosis of each single patient and to estimate potential therapy success or relapse. In fact all CLL patients relapse sooner or later as none of the currently used standard chemotherapies or novel, targeted and very efficient immunotherapeutics offer long lasting cure. According to very new research results, mutations in distinct cancer genes may be suitable in predicting the course of disease and are also helpful in identifying patients that may become therapy resistant. The analysis of such mutations on a patient-specific basis and the knowledge of how genetic changes in the cancer cell interfere and shape the microenvironment in its tumorsupporting role, is the main topic that will be addressed by FIRE-CLL. Together with leading experts in the field of CLL, both on the clinical and on the scientific site, we aim to fight resistance in CLL by developing tailored therapy concepts which are based on genetic heterogeneity with the aim to turn CLL into a curable disease.