Molecular cytogenetic analysis of B-CLL patients with aggressive disease

We tested a set of commercially available probes to determine the feasibility and accuracy of FISH in the detection of abnormalities in 13 patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) with a particular aggressive clinical disease. We utilized three different probes for the 13q12-14 region, one for the centromeric region of chromosome 12, one for the P53 gene at 17p13.1 and one for 3′-5′ IGH at 14q32, covering the entire region of IGH, thus potentially allowing to detect more rearrangements. Conventional cytogenetic study showed a normal karyotype in 8/13 patients. FISH was able to detect chromosomal abnormalities in 10/13 pts (85%): +12 in 4 pts (38%); del 13q in 4 (38%); del 17p in 3 (35%); del of 5′-IGH in 1 (15%). In conclusion FISH confirmed its ability to improve the detection of cytogenetic abnormalities especially in patients with an aggressive disease.