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Immunophenotypic Characterization of the Leukemic B-cells From Iranian Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia:
Mohammad Hojjat Farsangi1, Mahmood Jeddi-Tehrani, Seyed Mohsen Razavi
1Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Medical Sciences/Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
Insights
This study found that higher CD38 expression on leukemia cells in Iranian patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is linked to a more progressive disease. These findings in an Asian population support previous research from Western countries.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Immunology
- Oncology
Background:
- B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) exhibits heterogeneous clinical courses.
- Current staging systems benefit from additional biological parameters for outcome prediction.
- CD38 and ZAP-70 expression are known prognostic markers in Western B-CLL populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze membrane antigen expression on leukemic cells in Iranian B-CLL patients.
- To identify differences in marker expression between indolent and progressive B-CLL groups.
- To validate prognostic markers in an Asian ethnic cohort.
Main Methods:
- Flow cytometry analysis of peripheral blood samples.
- Study included 87 Iranian patients diagnosed with B-CLL.
- Comparison of antigen expression between indolent and progressive disease subgroups.
Main Results:
- All cases confirmed B-CLL phenotype (CD5+/CD19+/sIg+).
- High expression of CD27 (95.4%) and CD45RO (83.9%) suggests a memory B-cell phenotype.
- Progressive B-CLL patients showed significantly higher CD38 expression frequency and intensity (40.5%) compared to indolent patients (11.9%).
Conclusions:
- CD38 expression is associated with disease progression in B-CLL.
- Findings in an Asian population corroborate Western studies on CD38 as a prognostic marker.
- CD38 expression can aid in predicting B-CLL clinical course.
Background:
Patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) have heterogeneous clinical courses, thus several biological parameters need to be added to the current clinical staging systems to predict disease outcome. Recent immunophenotypic studies performed mainly in Western populations have demonstrated the prognostic value of CD38 and ZAP-70 expression in B-CLL.
Objectives:
To investigate the expression pattern of a variety of membrane antigens on leukemic cells from Iranian patients with CLL and to find out if there are any differences in the expression of these markers between indolent and progressive groups.
Methods:
In the present study, peripheral blood samples from 87 Iranian patients with B-CLL were analysed by flow cytometry.
Results:
In all cases, the neoplastic cells displayed B-CLL phenotype (CD5+/CD19+/sIg+). The vast majority of the cases expressed CD23, but failed to stain for CD3 or CD14. The leukemic cells of most patients expressed CD27 (84/87, 95.4%) and CD45RO (74/87, 83.9%) molecules, suggesting a memory B-cell phenotype. Comparison between the indolent (n=42) and progressive (n=37) patients revealed significantly higher frequency and intensity of CD38 expression in progressive group (40.5%) compared to indolent (11.9%) patients (p<0.05). None of the other membrane antigens were differentially expressed in these two groups of patients.
Conclusion:
Our results obtained in an Asian ethnic population confirm and extend previous findings obtained from Western populations regarding the association of CD38 expression and disease progression in B-CLL.
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