title: Age-dependent prevalence and frequency of circulating t(14;18)-positive cells in the peripheral blood of healthy individuals.
abstract: Circulating t(14;18)-positive cells were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction on DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) from 644 healthy individuals between <1 and 91 years of age. In all, 45% of all samples (287/644) were positive, and 40% of the positive samples (114/287) contained more than one positive clone. The prevalence of t(14;18)-positive cells showed a strong correlation with age. A total of 36 cord blood samples and 48 PBMNCs from children <10 years were negative. The prevalence of circulating positive cells increased from the second to fifth decade of life from 20% to 66% and remained stable thereafter. Also the median frequency of circulating t(14;18)-positive cells as well as the prevalence of multiple clones showed an increase with age. In all, 4% (24/644) of all blood samples contained >1 positive cell in 25,000 cells, a finding restricted to healthy individuals >40 years. These results are discussed in relation to the low incidence of follicular lymphoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Germany. doelken@uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Gottfried
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dölken
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dölken
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hirt
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fusch
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rabkin
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schüler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001773:Blood Cells; D001782:Blood Donors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D014178:Translocation, Genetic