We evaluated IL-23 level in plasma samples obtained from HV (n = 10) vs CLL (n = 10), observing a statistically significant increase in patients compared to HVs (57.21%, range 20.87–172.8% vs 13.3%, range 7.06–32.22%, respectively; P = 0.0003) (Additional file 1: Fig. S1). Here, IL23A is linked to B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.