Chronic lymphocytic leukemia in China

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia(CLL)is 10-to 20-fold less common in Han Chinese in China compared with persons of predominately European descent translating to inci-dences of 0.2 to 0.6 per 10E+5 population/year vs.4.6 per 10E+5 population/year.[1-3] Reason(s)for this markedly lower incidence and therefore prevalence in China is unknown but is shared with the other Asian nationalities including.Japanese,Koreans,and others,.+-61 Studies of large cohorts of Chinese with CLL are relatively rare and there are no population-based studies in the mainland of China.Several seeming differences between CLL in Chinese and persons of predominately European descent are reported such as younger age at diagnosis,different background genotypes,increased frequency of IGHV mutation,different stereotype use and different mutation topographies.7 However,in general,most cases of CLL in Han Chinese are like CLL in persons of predominately European descent.