A new study provides evidence that may explain why some patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are resistant to chemotherapy and have a shorter survival time and may identify a potential new target for treating the disease. Patients who had an insertion in the promoter region of a gene that regulates apoptosis, or programmed cell death, were more likely to have a poor response to chemotherapy and to have a rapid progression of the disease, according to the study, which is published in the May 5 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
