Future strategies toward the cure of indolent B-cell malignancies. Immune recognition and antiself

Tumor cells from patients with B-cell malignancies exhibit a number of immunophenotypic characteristics that may be responsible for their survival. It has been shown, for example, that down-modulation of CD154 (CD40 ligand), which allows B cells to respond to T cells, may account for some of the immune defects of these cells in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. New strategies are being developed in an attempt to enable the host immune system to recognize these cells as non-self and to augment the host response against tumor cells.