The prolonged survival of CLL cells is in part associated with defective apoptosis and microenvironment mediated signals (e.g., CD40L, BAFF, APRIL, CXCL12, and VACM-1 (Kipps et al., 2017; ten Hacken & Burger, 2014) that trigger the NF-KB and PI3K/AKT pathways. The gene discussed is CD40LG; the disease is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.