Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) is the most common leukaemia in adults in the US and most of Western Europe. Many patients suffering from CLL have tumour cells expressing high amounts of Bcl-2 protein. Since over expression of Bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis, it is possible that this gene participates in the pathogenesis of CLL. By lowering the Bcl-2 protein in these tumour cells the cells may go into apoptosis due to changed balance in pro- and anti apoptotic proteins and thereby it might be possible to induce a tumour response.~The study is an open-labelled, international, multicenter, dose escalating phase I/II study where patients receive 6, 3, 2 or 1 dose(s) of SPC2996, a LNA antisense molecule against Bcl-2, over a period of up to 2 weeks, and are followed for 6 months.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether SPC2996 is effective and safe in the treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL)