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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
Detection and Enrichment of Rare Antigen-specific B Cells for Analysis of Phenotype and Function
Published on: February 16, 2017
Morphologically typical and atypical B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemias display a different pattern of surface
G D'Arena1, M Dell'Olio, P Musto
1Division of Hematology IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. ematologia@operapadrepio.it
Insights
Immunological markers differentiate typical and atypical B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). Atypical B-CLL shows higher CD20/CD22 expression, suggesting a more mature B-cell origin in this leukemia subtype.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Immunology
- Oncology
Background:
- B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) exhibits diverse biological and clinical characteristics.
- Immunophenotyping aids in differentiating B-CLL subtypes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if quantitative flow cytometry of membrane molecules can distinguish typical from atypical B-CLL.
- To correlate immunophenotypic findings with other clinico-biological features.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative flow cytometry was used to analyze membrane molecule expression (CD19, CD20, CD22, CD23, CD11c, CD5, CD79b) in 84 B-CLL patients.
- Morphological and immunological diagnoses were established.
- Comparison of molecule counts between typical and atypical B-CLL groups.
Main Results:
- Atypical B-CLL showed significantly higher CD20 and CD22 expression compared to typical B-CLL.
- CD19 expression was higher in typical B-CLL, but not statistically significant.
- No significant differences in CD23, CD79b, CD11c, or CD5 expression were found.
- Atypical B-CLL was associated with higher immunoglobulin density, CD79b/FMC7 expression, lymphocytosis, trisomy 12, and advanced stages.
Conclusions:
- Quantitative immunophenotyping can help distinguish B-CLL subtypes.
- Atypical B-CLL arises from more mature B-cells than typical B-CLL.
- These findings support the heterogeneity of B-CLL and its distinct cellular origins.
Abstract:
Recent evidences suggest that B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) may have heterogeneous biological and clinical features. Immunological phenotype may be useful for distinguishing these different forms of disease. We used a quantitative flow cytometric approach to analyze the expression of several membrane molecules (CD19, CD20, CD22, CD23, CD11c, CD5, CD79b) commonly used to diagnose and characterize B-CLL in a choort of 84 consecutive B-CLL patients diagnosed according to morphological and immunological findings. We found that morphologically so-called "atypical" B-CLL displayed a significantly higher number of CD20 and CD22 molecules than typical forms. On the other hand, CD19 was found to be more expressed in typical B-CLL, although without reaching statistical significance. Finally, no difference was detected with respect to CD23, CD79b, CD11c and CD5 number of molecules/per cell between typical and atypical B-CLL. Other clinico-biological features, such as surface membrane immunoglobulin density, percentage of CD79b and FMC7 expression, peripheral blood lymphocytosis, trisomy 12 and advanced clinical stages were also found to be more frequent in atypical B-CLL. In conclusion, our data confirm the hypothesis that atypical B-CLL is a disease sustained by more mature B-cells, closely related but, at the same time, clearly distincted from neoplastic cells of typical B-CLL.
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