RNA-based markers as prognostic factors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is most often indolent at diagnosis but has a highly variable clinical course, and many patients will eventually progress and require treatment. Currently, there are a number of clinical and molecular markers known to be predictive of prognosis in CLL that can be applied to discriminate patients that are more likely to develop a progressive disease. Gene-expression profiling studies have identified genes with differential expression between prognostic subgroups in CLL, and research on these RNA-based prognostic markers has expanded during recent years. For example, high lipoprotein lipase and CLLU1 mRNA expression have recently been shown to be strong markers of poor clinical outcome. In this review we will provide a summary of the most significant prognostic markers in CLL, focusing on the recent category of RNA-based markers in particular.