Haematological disorders were present before the onset of NL in 7/8 patients, including chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL, cases 1 and 3), B-cell NHL (case 4), cold agglutinin disease (CAD, case 5), chronic HCV-related hepatitis with mixed cryoglobulinemia (case 6) and IgM kappa monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) (cases 7 and 8). The gene discussed is CD40LG; the disease is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.