2025 Scientific Conference: Interviews with HCL Experts

We invited CURE (an online and print resource for patients with cancer) to attend the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation 2025 Scientific Conference.

At the conference, CURE spoke with experts to highlight research, treatment, and patient-focused care for hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and HCL Variant (HCLv).

You can also watch additional interviews below.

Dr. Rogers spoke about how working together can help improve care for people with hairy cell leukemia. She pointed out that there are ongoing efforts to meet important patient needs, fill knowledge gaps like those about fertility, and keep treatment guidelines up to date with the latest advances.

Dr. El-Sharkawi said that hairy cell leukemia is often difficult to detect early because patients often have mild symptoms, and low blood counts are sometimes found by chance during routine checkups. She also mentioned rare and unusual cases, highlighting the need for doctors to remain alert to identify complications and treat them quickly.

Dr. Ravandi explained that adding rituximab to standard chemotherapy, like cladribine or targeted therapies, can help patients achieve longer-lasting remissions. He pointed to new evidence showing that starting with these combinations may give patients the best chance to manage the disease and improve their long-term outlook.

Dr. Gozzetti pointed out that fertility and reproductive health are important but often ignored parts of survivorship in HCL. He stressed the importance of collecting better data, especially through patient registries, to understand how treatments affect patients and help them get back to a normal life.