Publication Date:
2013-11-15
Description:
Introduction Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) develops in a stepwise fashion, starting in a restricted set of normal B lymphocytes that clonally expand, presumably due to antigen stimulation, reaching levels exceeding normal homeostasis but less than required for a diagnosis of CLL. Immunologic, genetic, and epidemiologic studies suggest these clonal expansions, termed monoclonal B lymphocytosis (MBL), are requisite precursors of CLL. Although ∼5% of normal subjects over age of 60 years old exhibit MBL, only ∼1% evolve to overt CLL each year. Hence, it is likely the genetic factors leading to the development of MBL from normal B cells are not sufficient to automatically lead to CLL and additional genetic lesions are needed for the final conversion to leukemia. To understand the development of MBL and its evolution to CLL, we investigated gene expression profiles of normal blood (N) B cells, MBL cells, and CLL cells using microarray technology. Methods RNA was purified from 31 N CD19+ B cells, 21 CD19+CD5+CD20dimIgL-restricted MBL cells, and 65 CD5+CD19+ CLL cells. Microarray assays were performed using Illumina Human HT12 BeadChips. Genes differentially expressed between the 3 populations were identified (MBL vs N and MBL vs CLL) and sets of significant genes (≥1.5 fold change and P
Print ISSN:
0006-4971
Electronic ISSN:
1528-0020
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine