ASH 2014: Dr. Jeff Sharman Discusses the Biology of the CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) Cells

I am posting here the video and comments that can also be found on the CLL Society website.

In the first of a two-part interview recorded at the 2014 American Society of Hematology annual meeting with Dr. Jeff Sharman, an important CLL researcher and helpful blogger (see http://www.cll-nhl.com), we take a step back and listen as Dr. Sharman explains how our increased understanding of the biology and lifecycle of the CLL cell has resulted in the breakthrough therapies we are enjoying today.

Take Away Points:

• Unlike some cancers, CLL is not driven by one particular activating mutation.
• B cell receptor signaling is an important driver of CLL proliferation.
• The behavior and biology of the CLL cells inside the lymph nodes and the bone marrow is very different than that of the same cells in the blood stream.
• CLL cells grow in the nodes and the bone marrow, not the blood stream.
• The differences between the biology of the cells in and out of the blood stream have profound implications for therapy.
• About 1% of our CLL cells are born and die each day.

Introduction

Dr. Sharman is a good educator and takes the time to carefully explain what is happening in the lifecycle of our cancer cells.

My more colorful and simplistic analogy comes at the end of the presentation.

Here is the video:

Brian Koffman

8/24/15

Good News: Personal Update on my CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)

Sorry for my rare posting here. 

The CLL Society has kept me way too busy, but I am trying to reestablish a balance between my posts here and there. Watch for interviews from ASH 2014 and more personal material here very soon.

My lab results tends to come in bunches- at St. Jude's, OSU and UCSD all in about a week due to a quirk in scheduling.

And all the bunches have all been good.

I am now over 37 months on ibrutinib and most of us trial guinea pigs who have done well this long, continue to do well.

There are exceptions and late resistance can develop, but it is still quite rare.

So here's the good news.

My lymphocytes flute a bit but remain just a bit above 1.  That is great.

My Hgb is hovering in the low rage of normal, so no anemia again. It's been months since I have had anemia, so maybe that diagnosis is part of my past and not my future.

My platelets are a bit high consistent with my prior splenectomy and my very dormant nearly forgotten ITP still being well behaved. I have grown blasé about happy healthy platelet numbers. No more fear and trembling waiting for my blood counts.

When we look more deeply at my blood, using the flow cytometry we find that exactly 1.0% of my lymphocytes are monoclonal B cells or CLL cells.  This is up from 0.8% 6 months earlier and down form 1.4%  three months before that.

What that suggests is that my disease is stable. Statistically identical over the last 9 months.

I wish it was continuing to trend down slowly, but it probably isn't. But is not rising either.

So what does that mean?

Could this be the long bottom of a big bowl shaped curve that will start up again at some time?

Possibly, but since I lacked the common mutations (at least when tested 3 months ago) that lead to ibrutinib resistance that is unlikely. To rest easy, I want see this month's test for mutations in BTK-PLCG2 , but I am anticipating no clouds on the horizon.

Will I be one of those who has a long long time with a low low level of disease? I can live with that is the long is several decades and the low stays where it is.

My LDH was a touch high on one sample, but OK in another, so that's the one I believe. No reason for a high LDH, so I dismiss the out of normal one.

The rest of my blood chemistries remain boring and healthy. Well, my total protein was a big low again, because I make so little antibody.

No surprise that my immunoglobulins remain low except for the artificial elevation of my IGG from my infusions of IVIG every six or seven weeks. Not much leads to those rising back to normal even when our disease is well controlled. That persistent immune deficiency remains one of the biggest unmet needs of the CLL community in general and me in particular.

Got a another great piece of lab news, actually a big relief.

My PSA was low and steady after some wild bouncing around last year and giving me a short scare that I might have prostrate cancer, not unheard of in a man in his 60s, especially one with CLL. I am no longer worried with two low levels almost a year apart.

Both Drs. Kipps and Byrd found some small nodes (1 x1cm or less) in my neck and armpits, but no big change up or down for a long time now. My liver is staying small and my spleen has not  grown back after being removed in a vain attempt to control my ITP years ago.

Before my next visit to OSU in 3 months, I must get imaging of my abdomen with an MRI (I have sworn off CT scans).

Right now, it is steady as she goes.

As I said before I do wish my levels were dropping, but there is so little experience this far out with ibrutinib, it is hard to get too worked up, and I am watched closely for any changes. 

Plus there are great options out there for a post ibrutinib world, not that I am anticipating joining that small cohort any time soon.

So that's my story.

Off to iwCLL 2015 in Australia where I am speaking on panel with Drs. Keating and Roberts and others about the high cost of cancer meds. And running a small patient education meeting with Lymphoma Australia and interviewing many CLL researchers for the blog and the CLL Society website, and meeting CLL and lymphoma patients from Australia and New Zealand.  Busy times, but I so look forward to it. And I will stay to play in Melbourne and Hobart for a week after with my wife and oldest son.

Life is good.

3 Important Papers on CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) from ASCO 2015

Friends,

This week on CLL Society (http://cllsociety.org) in our 2015 conference coverage (http://cllsociety.org/conference-coverage/2015-conferences/) section, we feature an interview with me by fellow CLL patient, Carol Preston of Patient Power (http://www.patientpower.info) where I quickly outline my take on three papers from ASCO 2015 on CLL.

ASCO is more about solid cancers, so the news on CLL tends to be scarce.

The three presentations are on a new prognostic scale, on a new non-chemo triplet therapy and finally on Bendamustine with and without ibrutinib.

In the accompanying text, I go into more detail, and of course provide a link to the source material itself so we can all form our own opinions.

Your comments are welcome. 

I am off to iwCLL 2015 in a few weeks where I will be speaking on a panel with Dr. Keating and others on how to improve access to expensive cancer medications. I also plan to meet other CLL patients and interview the experts gathered in Sydney, Australia.

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

In the next week I will update my health status here. Spoiler alert-all is rock stable.

Brian

http://cllsociety.org

http://bkoffman.blogspot.com

CLL Biorepository for Research and Comments on Chemo from Patient advocates

Friends,

This week we finally learned why they need so much blood of ours every time we are seen at a research center. We learned what a biorepository is and how it is changing how CLL research is done.

Donna Neuberg, Sc. D. from Dana Farber Cancer Institute is the director of biostatistics for the CRC (CLL Research Consortium). In an interview from the CRC research meeting on April 24 and 25 that followed the April 23 patient meeting, I asked her the burning question: What exactly do they do with the 10 extra tubes of blood they draw at every clinic appointment at a research center?

The short answer: They put them on ice!

Her more detailed response and discussion of the research made possible by this amazing resource, the CRC's CLL biorepository, is eye opening. She also talks about privacy issue and the reasons for the patients' very limited access to their own research results. This interview gives you a peek under the hood of how longitudinal research is done and why serial blood samples are so helpful.

As patients, we may never meet Dr. Neuberg but the stewardship she is providing to get the most research benefit out of our precious blood samples is moving us closer to a cure.

The link to my interview with Dr. Neuberg is http://cllsociety.org/2015/08/crc-2015-dr-neuberg-on-the-biorepository-for-cll/

 Also new on the website this week is a thoughtful discussion here (http://cllsociety.org/2015/08/comments-on-chemotherapy/) of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. CLL patient Terry Evans argues convincingly not to reject BR or FCR and other chemotherapy regimens out of hand, but rather to consider their potential role dispassionately and Karl Schwartz from Patients against Lymphoma points out some of the under-recognized beneficial effects of chemotherapy on our immune system, perhaps as a form of immune priming. I have also included a link to my prior discussion of the nature of the particular chemotherapy that is used in CLL. Check out the opinions of two very knowledgeable patient advocates and share with us your opinions.

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman
Volunteer Medical Director of the CLL Society Inc.
http://cllsociety.org