The mutational status of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGHV) and surface expression of IgM are associated with disease prognosis in CLL [29, 33] and we observed no difference in HLA-E downregulation between cases with mutated- or unmutated-IGHV, or with high or low surface IgM expression (Fig. 2C, D). The gene discussed is CD40LG; the disease is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.