HMGCR and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Group 2 patients (whose CLL cells did not increase pSTAT3 expression and displayed altered cholesterol metabolism in that they failed to down-regulate HMGCR) had significantly higher WBC counts and much shorter lymphocyte doubling times, which are associated with more aggressive disease (Molica and Alberti, 1987) (Fig. 6B).