Telomere length predicts progression and overall survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: data from the UK LRF CLL4 trial

Telomere erosion and fusion play an important role in the pathology of many common human malignancies including CLL.1,2 Previous studies in CLL have shown that short telomeres defined on the basis of the median value or receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis are associated with unmutated IGHV genes, poor risk genomic abnormalities, genomic complexity and high expression of CD38, CD49d, and ZAP70 whereas long telomeres are associated with increasing IGHV mutational load, isolated deletion of 13q and low CD49d expression. In addition, in predominantly diagnostic or mixed patient cohorts, telomere length (TL) predicts time to first treatment and/or overall survival (OS) in multivariate analyses of models incorporating established biomarkers. 3-7 However uncertainties about the most clinically relevant measure of telomere length, the optimal choice of assay, the need for assay standardisation and the lack of published data on the prognostic value of TL in patients entered into randomised trials have hindered the implementation of TL measurement into routine clinical practice. We have attempted to address these issues by measuring telomere length using monochrome multiplex Q-PCR (MMQ-PCR) in 384 patients at randomisation into the UK LRF CLL4 phase 3 chemotherapy trial (Table S1), of whom 111 samples were also screened by single telomer

The Fukushima Daiichi Accident

The Fukushima Daiichi Accident consists of a Report by the IAEA Director General and five technical volumes. It is the result of an extensive international collaborative effort involving five working groups with about 180 experts from 42 Member States with and without nuclear power programmes and several international bodies. It provides a description of the accident and its causes, evolution and consequences, based on the evaluation of data and information from a large number of sources available at the time of writing. The set contains six printed parts and five supplementary CD-ROMs. Contents: Report by the Director General; Technical Volume 1/5, Description and Context of the Accident; Technical Volume 2/5, Safety Assessment; Technical Volume 3/5, Emergency Preparedness and Response; Technical Volume 4/5, Radiological Consequences; Technical Volume 5/5, Post-accident Recovery; Annexes. The JRC contributed to volumes 1,2 and 3, which are attached.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen