Clonal chromosome rearrangements in hairy cell leukemia: personal experience and review of literature

Cytogenetic studies in hairy cell leukemia (HCL) are rare. In the present r eport, cytogenetic investigations were performed on marrow cells obtained f rom 21 HCL male patients with a mean age of 57 years and active disease. Ka ryotypic analysis was successful in 18 of the 21 patients, either at diagno sis or in relapse after treatment with IFNa. Clonal chromosome abnormalitie s were detected in eight of 18 cases. The chromosome most frequently involv ed in the rearranged karyotypes was chromosome 14. Results are discussed wi th respect to 79 abnormal HCL cases obtained from an extensive review of th e literature from 1978 to 2000. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights r eserved.