78 Different Genes Linked To 11q Deletion in CLL

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Better understanding of the genetic components of CLL

are likely to come from the use of gene arrays (AKA

gene chips). As this article points out, these

studies have implications for understanding prognoses.

Leukemia 2001 Nov;15(11):1721-8

Distinct gene expression profiling in chronic

lymphocytic leukemia with 11q23 deletion.

Aalto Y, et al University of Helsinki, Finland.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous

disease with regard to its clinical course. The

limitations of the methods currently available for

prognostic assessment in CLL do not allow accurate

prediction of the risk of disease progression in

individual patients. The recently developed cDNA array

technique provides a unique opportunity to study gene

expression in various malignancies.

To identify new molecular markers for prognostication

of CLL patients, we analyzed cDNA arrays by using

hierarchical clustering and standard statistic t-test

on 34 CLL patients.

We found significant expression differences in 78

genes compared to the reference tonsillar B

lymphocytes. A cluster of genes, LCP1, PARP, BLR1,

DEK, NPM, MCL1, SLP76, STAM, HIVEP1, EVI2B, CD25,

HTLF, HIVEP2, BCL2, MNDA, PBX3, EB12, TCF1, CGRP,

CD14, ILB, GZMK, GPR17 and CD79B, was associated with

the unfavorable 11q deletion and also with the

unfavorable Binet stages B and C.

We present here gene expression profiling that is

associated with CLL patients with the 11q23 deletion.

Many of the genes in the cluster have not previously

been shown to be related to the initiation or

progression of CLL.

These novel findings provide fundamental information

for further attempts to understand the interaction of

the clustered genes in the leukomogenesis of CLL in

order to better design treatments aimed at specific

molecular target(s).

PMID: 11681413 [PubMed - in process]

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