CHROMOSOME ANALYSES IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC-LEUKEMIA AND RELATED B-CELL NEOPLASMS

Chromosome analyses were performed by routine G-banding in 29 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), six with immunocytoma (IC), three with centroblastic-centrocytic (cb-cc) lymphoma, and one with hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Ages of the patients were between 46 and 81 years (mean, 63 years). 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was used as a mitogen to stimulate leukemic B-cells in 72-hour cultures. Twenty-one patients had one or more chromosomal abnormalities; and in 13 patients, they were clonal; 18 patients had a normal karyotype. Seven patients had trisomy 12 (three B-CLL, two IC, two cb-cc lymphoma); two (B-CLL) had it as the sole abnormality. One patient with B-CLL had trisomy 18 as the sole abnormality, and one with IC had trisomy 18 in combination with trisomy 19. One patient with B-CLL had t(1;6)(p36;p21) as a clonal structural abnormality. A t(11;14)(q13;q32) was consistently observed in one patient with cb-cc lymphoma together with inv(1) (p22p36), der(4)t(4;?)(p16;?), del(6)(q13) and other variable changes. One patient with morphologically atypical B-CLL had t(1;11)(p36;q13) together with der(X)t(X;?)(q26;?), der(3)t(3;?)(q29;?), der(8)t(4;8)(q12;q24.1) and additional variable changes. Both patients with these complex karyotypes were in an advanced stage of disease (Binet stage C) and died within 3-6 months after chromosome analysis.