title: Respiratory symptoms, lung function tests, airway responsiveness, and bronchoalveolar lymphocyte subsets in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
abstract: A respiratory questionnaire was completed and spirometry, tests for lung volumes, diffusion capacity for CO, and methacholine bronchial challenge were performed in 24 outpatients with B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), aged 44-79, presenting in different stages of their disease. In 10 patients, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was also obtained. Ten of twenty-four patients had symptoms consistent with chronic bronchitis, unrelated both to smoking history and to the clinical stage. Abnormal values (< 2 SD) were found in 4 patients for total lung capacity (TLC), in 9 for vital capacity (VC), 8 for forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), 11 for MEF50, 15 for MEF25 and in 7 for diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide. Seven of nineteen patients had PD20FEV1 at less than 1,600 micrograms of methacholine chloride. There was a significantly negative correlation between white blood cell count and VC (r = 0.41, P < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between PD20FEV1 and FEV1/VC (r = 0.61, P < 0.01). The mean and SEM for BAL cells/ml was 463 (71.8) x 10(3). No leukemic cells but a marked increase in T lymphocytes (32.5 +/- 7.8%) were found in BAL fluid. There were significantly negative correlations between the number of BAL CD3+ T lymphocytes and PD20FEV1 (r = 0.61, P < 0.05), and between the number of BAL CD8+ T lymphocytes and PD20FEV1 (r = 0.84, P < 0.01). In conclusion, patients with B-CLL have a high prevalence of respiratory symptoms, small airway dysfunction and CD8 "alveolitis" related to airway responsiveness; despite the well-known lung interstitial lymphocyte infiltration in B-CLL, leukemic cells are not found in BAL fluid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Scienze Biomediche and Oncologia Umana, University of Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rolla
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bucca
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiampo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brussino
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scappaticci
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stacchini
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bertero
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caligaris-Cappio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D017254:Leukemic Infiltration / Q000276:immunology*; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*