Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in Europe and it remains incurable. Targeted therapies have made a breakthrough in the treatment of CLL over the last decade. However, many patients develop resistance, have severe side effects or relapse during treatment. To prevent ineffective treatment and toxic effects, there is an unmet clinical need for tailoring optimal therapy for each patient.

Our research group focuses on developing functional precision medicine for B-cell malignancies, in particular CLL. By performing functional analyses such as drug sensitivity screening and single cell signaling analyses directly on the patients' cancer cells, our aim is to identify biomarker signatures that can predict treatment outcomes for the individual patient, and thus guide treatment decisions.

Select publications
Full publication list in PubMed

1. Hermansen JU, Kong W, Brodersen AM, Yin Y, Urban A, Rein ID, He L, Agius R, Teglgaard RS, Rousu J, Brieghel C, Kersting S, Levin MD, Tran HTT, Mattsson M, Ranti J, Veldhuis GJ, da Cunha-Bang C, Mous R, Dubois J, Kater AP, Enserink JM, Niemann CU, Aittokallio T, Skånland SS. A functional prognostic model predicts progression-free survival in patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with ibrutinib + venetoclax. Hemasphere. 2026 Sep 17;10(9):e70467. doi: 10.1002/hem3.70467. PMID: 42757031; PMCID: PMC13585436.
2. Hermansen JU, Yin Y, Tjønnfjord GE, Mato AR, Skånland SS. Evolution of the drug sensitivity landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Br J Haematol. 2026 Aug;209(2):469-479. doi: 10.1111/bjh.70603. Epub 2026 Jun 10. PMID: 42267774; PMCID: PMC13462159.
3. Yin Y, Xu H, He L, Brown JR, Mato AR, Aittokallio T, Skånland SS. Protein Profiles Predict Treatment Responses to the PI3K Inhibitor Umbralisib in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 May 15;31(10):1943-1955. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-2911. PMID: 40085050; PMCID: PMC12081185.
4. Arseni L, Sigismondo G, Yazdanparast H, Hermansen JU, Mack N, Ohl S, Kalter V, Iskar M, Kalxdorf M, Friedel D, Rettel M, Paul Y, Ringshausen I, Eldering E, Dubois J, Kater AP, Zapatka M, Roessner PM, Tausch E, Stilgenbauer S, Dietrich S, Savitski MM, Skånland SS, Krijgsveld J, Lichter P, Seiffert M. Longitudinal omics data and preclinical treatment suggest the proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib as therapy for ibrutinib-resistant CLL. Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 26;16(1):1041. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56318-7. PMID: 39863584; PMCID: PMC11762753.
5. Montoya S, Bourcier J, Noviski M, Lu H, Thompson MC, Chirino A, Jahn J, Sondhi AK, Gajewski S, Tan YSM, Yung S, Urban A, Wang E, Han C, Mi X, Kim WJ, Sievers Q, Auger P, Bousquet H, Brathaban N, Bravo B, Gessner M, Guiducci C, Iuliano JN, Kane T, Mukerji R, Reddy PJ, Powers J, Sanchez Garcia de Los Rios M, Ye J, Barrientos Risso C, Tsai D, Pardo G, Notti RQ, Pardo A, Affer M, Nawaratne V, Totiger TM, Pena-Velasquez C, Rhodes JM, Zelenetz AD, Alencar A, Roeker LE, Mehta S, Garippa R, Linley A, Soni RK, Skånland SS, Brown RJ, Mato AR, Hansen GM, Abdel-Wahab O, Taylor J. Kinase-impaired BTK mutations are susceptible to clinical-stage BTK and IKZF1/3 degrader NX-2127. Science. 2024 Feb 2;383(6682):eadi5798. doi: 10.1126/science.adi5798. Epub 2024 Feb 2. PMID: 38301010; PMCID: PMC11103405.

Contact information

  sigrid.skanland@ous-research.no

Department of Cancer Immunology, Institute for Cancer Research
Oslo University Hospital, Ullernchausseen 70, 0379 Oslo, Norway