Patent ID: 8119340

Claim:
A method of (a) determining whether a patient with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) has a form of B-CLL susceptible to treatment directed to eliminating idiotype-specific B cell receptor-bearing B-CLL cells, or (b) following the progression of treatment of B-CLL in a patient having a form of B-CLL susceptible to treatment directed to eliminating idiotype-specific B cell receptor-bearing B-CLL cells, the method comprising determining whether a B cell receptors on a B-CLL from the patient is encoded by antibody genes comprising a light chain antibody gene and a heavy chain antibody gene, wherein the light chain antibody gene and the heavy chain antibody gene are selected from the group consisting of V H 4-34/D5-5/J H 6/V L κA17/J L κ1/κ2 (Set II), V H 3-21/J H 6/V L λ3h/J L λ3 (Set III), V H 1-69/D3-16/J H 3/V L κA27/J L κ1/κ4 (Set IV), V H 1-69/D3-10/J H 6/V L λ1c/J L λ1 (Set V), V H 1-02/D6-19/J H 4/V L κO12/2/J L κ1/κ2 (Set VIa), V H 1-03/D6-19/J H 4/V L κO12/2/J L κ1/κ2 (Set VIb), V H 1-18/D6-19/J H 4/V L κO12/2/J L κ1 (Set VIc), V H 1-46/D6-19/J H 4 (Set VId), V H 5-51/D6-19/J H 4/V L κO12/2/J L κ2 (Set VIe), V H 1-69/D3-3/J H 4/V L κA19/J L κ4 (Set VII), and V H 1-69/D2-2/J H 6/V L κL6/2/J L κ3 (Set VIII), wherein if the B cell receptor on the B-CLL cells has an idiotype encoded by the antibody genes, the patient has a form of B-CLL susceptible to treatment directed to eliminating idiotype-specific B cell receptor-bearing B-CLL cells or the treatment of the patient has not eliminated the idiotype-specific B cell receptor-bearing B-CLL cells.