On these bases, a cohort of B-CLL patient samples (n=108) was characterized for the presence of mutations in TP53 and in a subset of genes related to the p53-pathway, and then analyzed for the transcriptional response to the in vitro Nutlin-3 treatment, with particular attention to the induction of CDKN1A/p21, which accurately predict the therapeutic response in B-CLL [26]. This evidence concerns the gene CDKN1A and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.