Poor prognosis is ZAP70’ed into focus in CLL

In this issue of Blood, Chen et al(1) explored the biology underpinning the relationship between expression of ZAP70 and poor disease prognosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). They provide compelling evidence that this tyrosine kinase facilitates CLL progression by promoting malignant cell survival and ability to remodel the microenvironment, and by increasing malignant cell capacity for protein synthesis (see figure). This work thereby lays a solid foundation stone for our understanding of the role ZAP70 plays in CLL.