Rumors in CLL Treatments

I had an interesting discussion with a CLL researcher who said that there have been some indications of a reconstitution of a patient's immune system after successful treatment.

This is big news. Of course, I don't know (and I don't think the researchers know) if this will hold up, or if the trend towards a revamped immune system will continue to total normalcy. However, as we've been often told, even in molecular remissions, the native immune system remains disrupted. This may not be the complete truth.

My feeling was from what he said was that this is in a minority of patients. But I think the true import of this development is that there may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel. I hope enough of a trend continues that a paper will be written that discusses these developments (if they remain developments) more completely. I look forward to the day!

Since infections kill most CLL patients, having a full-functioning immune system would be big news indeed.

Since this was an off-handed comment, I just don't know the particulars. However, I hope this does hold up. Certainly, this is another indication that research is extending lives. Is this an indication that, caught early enough, and treated properly with powerful, dangerous, but effective drugs, a cure might be possible?