METHOD TO PREDICT THE NEED FOR THERAPY OF PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA

摘要

The present invention relates to the prediction of the need for therapy of patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Here, the inventors developed a procedure to investigate whether CD8⁺T cell compartment is sculptured by disease progression and to evaluate the prognostic value of this compartment shaping, by applying a combination of statistical tools to flow cytometry data. Their results reveal that the CD8⁺T cell phenotype is imprinted by tumor progression in CLL patients. They identify a phenotypic signature combining at least 6 unrelated markers that describes the evolution towards therapy within 6 months after phenotyping in fresh whole blood samples, which was never done before and which allow the stratification of patients. The invention relates to a method for identifying phenotypical signatures within CD8+ lymphocytes to predict the need for therapy of a patient suffering from CLL comprising several steps.