title: Association between telomere length and V(H) gene mutation status in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: clinical and biological implications.
abstract: The immunoglobulin V(H) gene mutation status can divide B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) into two entities with a different clinical course. Cases with unmutated V(H) genes, considered to evolve from pregerminal centre (GC) cells, have a worse outcome compared to cases showing mutated V(H) genes, that is, post-GC derived. Also, telomere length has been reported to be of prognostic significance in CLL. Interestingly, telomerase becomes activated during the GC reaction and an elongation of the telomeres occurs in GC B cells. We performed telomere length and V(H) gene analysis in a series of 61 CLL cases, in order to investigate if the unique telomere lengthening shown in GC B cells could reflect the telomere status in the two subsets of mutated and unmutated CLL. A novel association was found between V(H) gene mutation status and telomere length, since significantly shorter telomeres were demonstrated in the unmutated group compared to the mutated group (mean length 4.3 vs 6.3 kbp). Shorter telomeres also constituted a subgroup with a worse prognosis than cases with longer telomeres (median survival 59 vs 159 months). Furthermore, the Ig gene sequence data revealed that samples with high mutations frequency (>6%) had long telomeres ( approximately 8 kbp). Thus, both the telomere and V(H) gene mutation status in CLL appear linked, which may reflect the proliferative history of the clonal cells with regard to the GC reaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biosciences, Pathology, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hultdin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenquist
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Thunberg
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tobin
authors.forename: K-F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Norrback
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sundström
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors