Complex analysis of prognostic factors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

INTRODUCTION: Many new prognostic factors established in recent years in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. May help predicting survival. AIMS: The goal of the present study was to determine the frequency and the correlation of these novel prognostic factors in samples of 419 leukemia patients. METHODS: The mutation status of the IgH gene was evaluated in 160 cases. RESULTS: In 62% of cases, non-mutated IgH gene was found, the heavy chain family usage was different in mutated and non-mutated cases. The CD38 expression demonstrated 78% concordance with the mutation status, the ZAP-70 expression failed to show any correlation. Cytogenetic abnormalities were seen in 76% of cases, the most frequent were del(13q) (57%), trisomy 12 (15%), del(11q) (12%) and del(17p) (6%). 95% of cases with del(11q) harbored non-mutated, 74% of cases with del(13q) as the sole anomaly demonstrated mutated IgH genes. CONCLUSIONS: The parameters analysed are not independent of each other, utilization of them in the clinical routine needs careful planning.