Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) occurring with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection: implications

Although chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in the west and over the past two decades the incidence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has significantly increased, few reports of the coincidence of these diseases exist in the literature. Other lymphoid malignancies such as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) and Hodgkin's disease (HD) occur frequently with HIV and indeed the former is an acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining illness. It is not clear why HIV infected patients have a predisposition for some B-cell disorders and not others. This may be related to the different age ranges for patients with CLL and HIV infection although an overlap clearly does exist. Here, we describe our experience with a patient with co-existing HIV infection and CLL and explore possible implications.