Small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are thought to be different expressions of the same disease. There are clinical, morphological, immuno-phenotypical and genotypical similarities that seem to resist even to advanced molecular biology techniques. It still needs to be defined, through a more refined understanding of the gene profile expression and microRNA biology of the malignant and surrounding micro-environment benign cells and a better understanding of the new paradigms of cell differentiation relativity, if SLL and CLL are different diseases.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Small lymphocytic lymphoma; clinical manifestation; diagnosis; gene profile; microRNA biology
