Relevance of CD49d and CD38 expressions as predictors of disease progression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

Background Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a heterogeneous disease characterized by a highly variable clinical course. The majority of cases do not require therapy and show identical survival rate with their chronic lymphocytic leukemia-free counterparts of the same age. However, other patients may suffer from an aggressive course of the disease with early need for therapy and shorter overall survival. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the expression pattern and prognostic value of the adhesion molecules, CD49d and CD38, in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients. Moreover, we attempted to investigate their correlation with trisomy 12, which could help in the clarification of the distinctive clinical features of the trisomy 12+ CLL subset. Patients and methods Seventy newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients and 50 age-matched and sex-matched controls were included in this study. Patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination and abdominal ultrasonography. Laboratory investigations included complete blood count, cytogenetic analysis for the presence of trisomy 12, and flow cytometric assessment. Results A significant positive correlation was detected between CD49d expression and CD38 expression. CD49d showed positive correlation with poor prognostic parameters that included organomegaly, high count of white blood cells, lymphocyte count and trisomy 12. CD38 showed a significant positive correlation with high white blood cell count, lymphocyte count, and splenomegaly. In addition, trisomy 12+ chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients showed significant higher lymphocyte count and splenomegaly. Conclusion Our data confirm the suggested role of CD38 and CD49d as predictors for poor clinical outcome of CLL patients. Moreover, trisomy 12+ CLL cells exhibit a high CD49d expression that may account for the unique clinical characteristics of this group.