title: Simultaneous chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia. Evidence of a separate stem cell origin.
abstract: The authors studied a patient with the simultaneous occurrence of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The coexistence of these two hematologic malignancies leads to questions about their cell of origin. Through analysis of this patient's DNA, the authors studied the derivation of the two malignancies. They separated the blood into a myeloid-rich fraction and a fraction containing the malignant lymphocytes. JH and bcr probes were used to study these loci in the myeloid and lymphoid fractions and in unfractionated white blood cells. The authors found that the unfractionated leukocytes contained the bcr and JH rearrangements. Conversely, the lymphoid fraction contained only the JH rearrangement, and the myeloid fraction contained only the bcr rearrangement, suggesting that these malignancies arose from separate stem cells. This is the first reported patient with simultaneously occurring CML and CLL definitively shown to arise from distinct progenitors, and this report raises questions about the origin of these two cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester 01655.
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Maher
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Townes
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Savas
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Woda
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ansell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D018956:CD5 Antigens; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D018956:CD5 Antigens