Does CMV Induced Changes in NK Lymphocyte Biology Influence the Effectiveness of Antibody Therapy Used to Treat B Cell Lymphoproliferative Diseases?

This is an observational cohort study of patients with a new diagnosis of B cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia or B cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma who will receive an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody treatment during the induction phase of their treatment. Throughout the study, patients will have four blood draws at specified time points throughout the study. The initial blood draw will be analysed test patients for Cytomegalovirus and conduct a g-NK cell analysis. The final three blood draws will be conducted to analyse the g-NK cells at specified time points. The objectives of this study are to: 1) characterize the frequency of CMV (+) and g-NK (+) individuals in the B-NHL and B-CLL populations, 2) Determine changes in circulating g-NK cells during and after anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody containing remission induction chemotherapy and 3) Evaluate whether the presence of g-NK cells improve the outcome of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody containing remission induction treatment of patients with B-NHL or B-CLL.