title: p53 gene deletion and trisomy 12 in hairy cell leukemia and its variant.
abstract: The deletion or mutation of the p53 tumour suppressor gene on chromosome 17p13 is known to be associated with aggressive disease in several B-cell malignancies. The present study describes the p53 gene status in 20 cases of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and in 12 cases of its morphological variant (HCL-V) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). A high incidence of p53 deletion was found in both diseases (75-100% of cases). However, a significant difference was observed between the proportion of cells with p53 deletion in HCL-V cases (mean 31%) and HCL cases (mean 12%) P value < 0.01. The observed difference correlates with the well known tendency for transformation and poor response to therapy in HCL-V and seven cases of HCL-V with greater than 22% of cells with p53 deletion showed features of disease progression and transformation. Trisomy 12 was present in 8.5% of the cells in one case of HCL-V and in 6-8% of cells in three cases of HCL.
authors.affiliation: Academic Department of Haematology and Cytogenetics, Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust/Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vallianatou
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brito-Babapulle
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matutes
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Catovsky
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002881:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D016158:Genes, p53; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D014314:Trisomy