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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Spencer Gibson

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Guest Editor

1. CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute, CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
2. Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
3. Kipnes Endowed Chair, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Interests: chronic lymphocytic leukemia; cellular environment; cell death; drug resistance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treatments have altered dramatically. In the past, the frontline therapy for CLL was chemoimmunotherapy, which left many patients with treatment-limiting toxicities. This has changed to targeted therapies, employing, for example, Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors such as Ibrutinib, and Bcl-2 inhibitors such as Venetoclax. These treatments enable more CLL patients to be treated, with longer remission periods. However, challenges remain, such as heart toxicities and drug resistance. Furthermore, many questions pertaining to how various treatment options may be tailored to the correct patient at the correct time remain unanswered. Beyond treatments, changes in patients’ immune systems and in the microenvironment of the bone marrow and lymph nodes are only now coming into focus. These microenvironments render CLL cells drug-resistant and allow for the proliferation of CLL cells. Understanding how CLL cells interact in these microenvironments and how treatments might be targeted are key questions for CLL researchers.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your high-quality manuscripts to this Special Issue. The aim of this Special Issue is to focus on clinical advances in CLL treatment and management, as well as changes in the microenvironment of CLL patients. We hope to gather a collection of at least 10 articles. Original research articles and reviews are welcome. We will also accept manuscripts presenting retrospective and prospective clinical observations.

Prof. Dr. Spencer Gibson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

treatments
drug resistance
toxicities
immune system
microenvironment
patient management

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1208 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) with Borderline Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Mutational Status, a Rare Subgroup of CLL with Variable Disease Course

by Francesco Angotzi, Alessandro Cellini, Valeria Ruocco, Chiara Adele Cavarretta, Ivan Zatta, Andrea Serafin, Stefano Pravato, Elisa Pagnin, Laura Bonaldi, Federica Frezzato, Monica Facco, Francesco Piazza, Livio Trentin and Andrea Visentin

Cancers 2024, 16(6), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16061095 - 8 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 793

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) exhibits substantial variability in disease course. The mutational status of the B-cell receptor immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) chain is a critical prognostic factor, categorizing patients into mutated (M-IGHV) and unmutated (U-IGHV) groups. Recently, a third subgroup with borderline mutational status (BL-IGHV) has been identified, comprising approximately 5% of CLL cases. This study retrospectively analyzes the outcomes of 30 BL-IGHV mutated patients among a cohort of 653 CLL patients, focusing on time to first treatment (TTFT) and overall survival (OS). BL-IGHV patients had a short TTFT similar to U-IGHV patients (median 30.2 vs. 34 months; p = 0.9). Conversely, the OS of BL-IGHV patients resembled M-IGHV patients (median NR vs. 258 months; p = 1). Despite a similar incidence in unfavorable prognostic factors, the TTFT was shorter compared to other published cohorts. However, striking similarities with other experiences suggest that BL-IGHV mutated patients share common biological characteristics, biased IGHV gene usage and BCR subset frequency. These findings also underscore the need for multicentric efforts aggregating data on BL-IGHV CLL in order to elucidate its disease course and optimize therapeutic approaches for this rare subgroup. Until then, predicting outcomes and optimal management of BL-IGHV CLL will remain challenging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Research Advances in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL))

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14 pages, 3239 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

The Diagnostic Performance of 2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT in Identifying Richter Transformation in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: An Updated Systematic Review and Bivariate Meta-Analysis

by Domenico Albano, Alessio Rizzo, Manuela Racca, Barbara Muoio, Francesco Bertagna and Giorgio Treglia

Cancers 2024, 16(9), 1778; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16091778 - 5 May 2024

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Abstract

Richter transformation is a rare phenomenon characterized by the transformation of cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) into a more aggressive lymphoma variant. The early identification of CLLs with a high risk of RT is fundamental. In this field, 2-deoxy-2-[¹⁸F]-fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT) has been shown to be a non-invasive and promising tool, but apparently, unclear data seem to be present in the literature. This systematic review and bivariate meta-analysis aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of 2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT and its parameters in predicting RT. Between 2006 and 2024, 15 studies were published on this topic, including 1593 CLL patients. Among semiquantitative variables, SUV_max was the most investigated, and the best threshold derived for detecting RT was five. With this cut-off value, a pooled sensitivity of 86.8% (95% CI: 78.5–93.3), a pooled specificity of 48.1% (95% CI: 27–69.9), a pooled negative predictive value of 90.5% (95% CI: 88.4–92.4), a pooled negative likelihood ratio of 0.35 (95% CI: 0.17–0.70), a pooled positive likelihood ratio of 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3–2.4), and a pooled diagnostic odds ratio of 6.7 (3.5–12.5) were obtained. With a higher cut-off (SUV_max = 10), the specificity increased while the sensitivity reduced. The other metabolic features, like metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis, and radiomic features, were only marginally investigated with controversial evidence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Research Advances in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL))

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