Angiogenic factors could help us to define patients obtaining complete response with undetectable minimal residual disease in untreated CLL patients treated by FCR: results from the CLL2010FMP, a FILO study.

Angiogenesis is in a constant balance between pro and anti-angiogenic factors. Neoangiogenesis, implicated in metastatic spreading is characterized in solid cancers, but fairly new in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We hypothesize that secretion of angiogenic factors could be correlated to the pathogenesis of CLL, and therefore predict the outcome of patients. We investigated concentrations of 22 cytokines and chemokines in 137 non-del 17p B-CLL patients, treated with a fludarabine-cyclophosphamide-rituximab (FCR)-based regimen. We constructed a biomarker index defining different risk groups based on lymphocyte count, the intensity of CD20 antigen on CD19