Distinct gene expression profiling in chronic lymphocytic leukemia with 11q23 deletion

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease with regard t o its clinical course. The limitations of the methods currently available f or prognostic assessment in CLL do not allow accurate prediction of the ris k of disease progression in Individual patients. The recently developed cDN A array technique provides a unique opportunity to study gene expression in various malignancies. To Identify new molecular markers for prognosticatio n of CLL patients, we analyzed cDNA arrays by using hierarchical clustering and standard statistic t-test on 34 CLL patients. We found significant exp ression differences in 78 genes compared to the reference tonsillar B lymph ocytes. A cluster of genes, LCP1, PARP, BLR1, DEK, NPM, MCL1, SLP76, STAM, HIVEP1, EVI2B, CD25, HTLF, HIVEP2, BCL2, MNDA, PBX3, EBI2, TCF1, CGRP, CD14 , IL8, GZMK, GPR17 and CD79B, was associated (P < 0.05) with the unfavorabl e 11q deletion and also with the unfavorable Binet stages B and C. We prese nt here gene expression profiling that is associated with CLL patients with the 11q23 deletion. Many of the genes in the cluster have not previously b een shown to be related to the initiation or progression of CLL. These nove l findings provide fundamental information for further attempts to understa nd the interaction of the clustered genes In the leukomogenesis of CLL in o rder to better design treatments aimed at specific molecular target(s).