Patent ID: 8465918

Claim:
A method to identify a relative risk in a vertebrate for developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia, comprising: (a) obtaining a nucleic acid-containing test sample from a vertebrate subject, (b) measuring, by laboratory analysis, a level of at least one transcribed ultra-conserved regions (T-UCR), (c) identifying whether the test sample expresses at least one T-UCR, (d) determining the relative risk for developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia by comparing the at least one T-UCR measured level to the level of a corresponding T-UCR in a control sample, wherein a decrease in the level of at least one T-UCR in the test sample, relative to the level of a corresponding T-UCR in a control sample, is indicative of the subject either having, or being at risk for developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia, wherein the at least one T-UCR is uc.160(N), and (e) measuring the level of at least one miR-155 in the test sample from said subject, wherein an increase in the level of the miR-155 in the test sample, relative to the level of a corresponding miR-155 in a control sample, is indicative of the subject either having, or being at risk for developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia.