title: Relative importance of CD38 expression over myeloid-associated markers expression in predicting the clinical course of B-CLL patients.
abstract: Expression of CD38 or myeloid-associated markers has been reported to be important in predicting prognosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) in separate studies but the impact of combining these markers on prognosis has not been examined. The current study aimed to evaluate the relative contribution of expression of CD38 and/or myeloid-associated markers (CD11b, CD13, CD15 and CD33) by flow cytometry (FCM) on the clinical course of 24 B-CLL patients. B-CLL patients with high levels of CD38 expression, defined as greater than or equal to 30% of neoplastic lymphocytes expressing CD38, had a significantly poorer OS than those with low levels of CD38 expression (54% cumulative survival: 51 months vs. 103 months, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, p < 0.005, Logrank test). High levels of expression of myeloid-associated markers showed no statistically significant impact on OS in these patients. Ten of 11 patients (91%) with high levels of CD38 expression required chemotherapy. In contrast, only 5 of 13 patients (38%) with low levels of CD38 expression required chemotherapy (p < 0.009, Chi Square). There was no significant difference in the requirement for chemotherapy between patients with high levels of expression of myeloid-associated marker and those without (5/8 or 63% vs. 10/16 or 63%). Thus, our results suggest that CD38 is superior to myeloid-associated markers in predicting the prognosis of patients with B-CLL. Further studies with a larger sample size are indicated to confirm our observation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
authors.forename: Chung-Che
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Cheng Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ronald P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Cleveland
mesh_terms: D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase / Q000097:blood*; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015415:Biomarkers; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase; C498154:CD38 protein, human; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1