Incorporation of additional stimuli (BAFF, anti-BCR, sCD40L, HS5) to the CpG+IL2 combination consistently improved proliferation, however at a cost of increased apoptosis (Figure 2B), with the notable exception of the concomitant use of CpG+IL2 and HS5 (at 1:100 ratio) that showed the best effects with a median of 30 ± 19% of apoptosis and 30 ± 27% of proliferation in the 12 cryopreserved progressive CLL samples analyzed (Table 2 and Supplementary Figure 1). The gene discussed is TNFSF13B; the disease is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.