Current Research

Research for B-cell leukemia is ongoing. The following advances may still be under investigation in clinical trials and may not be approved or available at this time. Always discuss all diagnostic and treatment options with your doctor.

New therapies are being tested in clinical trials, including those that use angiogenesis inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. Angiogenesis inhibitors prevent new blood vessel formation and starve the tumor of oxygen and nutrients. Monoclonal antibodies target proteins that are present in unusually large amounts on the surface of cancer cells. BL22 and LMB-2 are monoclonal antibodies that are linked to toxins; they are designed to attach to the surface proteins of leukemia cells. Doctors are using these and other monoclonal antibodies in clinical trials for people with HCL whose cancer is no longer responding to other treatments.