Patent ID: 7316906

Claim:
A method for determining indications of the prognosis of and aggressiveness of disease in a subject with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (“B-CLL”), the method comprising: measuring CD38 expression by B-CLL cells in a blood sample from the subject; determining the percentage of B-CLL cells in the sample that are CD38 + ; and comparing said percentage to a cut-off value, wherein a percentage of CD38 + B-CLL cells from the subject that is greater than or equal to the cut-off value indicates a poor prognosis and an aggressive disease course and a percentage of CD38 + B-CLL cells from the subject that is less than the cut-off value indicates an indolent disease course, wherein the cut-off value is determined by: measuring CD38 expression by B-CLL cells in a blood sample from each of a cohort of B-CLL patients; determining the percentage of B-CLL cells that are CD38 + in each of the cohort patients: determining whether the B-CLL in each of the cohort patients is aggressive or indolent; and plotting the percentage of B-CLL cells that are CD38 + in the cohort patients vs. aggressiveness or indolence in the cohort patients to establish a cut-off value that distinguishes between patients with aggressive disease and patients with indolent disease.