[Prognostic value of expression of IgG Fc receptors in patients with chronic B-cell lymphoid leukemia]

In 63 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia the expression of three recently described forms of the IgG Fc receptor (FcR) on peripheral blood lymphocytes was correlated with survival. High percentage of cells with FcRa as well as high "absolute" number of cells carrying FcRa or FcRc was connected to unfavourable prognosis. Combining these three parameters and FcR-constellation was defined which pointed to a favourable prognosis (in 24 patients) when all three parameters were low, but detected short-survivors when all three data were high (in 14 patients). FcR-constellation was capable of identifying patients with better or worse prognosis within groups that were homogenous regarding some other known prognostic factors. FcR-constellation as a prognostic factor was shown to be independent of age, sex, Rai and Binet stages, but was found to be connected with the total tumour mass score (TTM).