title: Biologic Features of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
abstract: The data reviewed place CLL in the context of other leukemias in humans. They suggest similarities but also some differences. Neither the issue of a preleukemia phase or the site of transformation in CLL is completely resolved. However, most data are consistent with the notion that CLL, like most human cancers, has a multi-step pathogenesis. Whether this phase(s) should be termed preleukemia is controversial. It also appears that transformation in CLL occurs in a progenitor-B-cell with considerable plasticity of phenotype expression and even genetic progression (albeit rarely). Perhaps CLL is best conceived as a B-cell disorder parodying normal B-cell development where a clone of B-cells escapes its normal fate and is thereby immortalized.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gale
keywords: Biology; CLL