Monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL) is a precursor state for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The incidence of MBL is higher in older individuals, men and first-degree relatives of patients with CLL. MBL is defined by the presence of more than 5 × 109 limfocytes B/L in blood of individual. Flow cytometry (FC) is used to define disease-specific immunophenotype. Abnormal ratio of light chains κ : λ and IgVH heavy-chain rearrangement can be present. CLL and other B-cell lymphoma need to be excluded to confirm diagnosis of MBL. Based on the immunophenotype MBL can be further subclassified into CLL-like MBL, CD5– MBL and atypical MBL. CLL-like MBL has immunophenotype similar to that of CLL and is the most common type of MBL. CLL-like MBL is further subclassified based on the number of monoclonal lymphocytes B into screening MBL (sMBL) and clinical MBL (cMBL). CD5– MBL is characterized by the absence of CD5 expression, while atypical MBL displays CD5 positivity along with higher expression of CD20. Fluorescence »in situ« hybridization (FISH) is used to find cytogenetic aberrations in MBL, the most common being del(13)(q14) and trisomy 12. Incidence of MBL in general population is 3 % to 5 % with 2 % of patients with cMBL progressing to CLL every year. The incidence of the disease is up to 7 times higher in first-degree relatives of patients with CLL, especially in families with at least 2 cases of CLL. We currently do not have data on MBL incidence in Slovenia, so we decided to make a study of the disease in our country and compare general population to first-degree relatives of patients with CLL. We considered three hypotheses: 1. incidence of MBL is higher in first-degree relatives of patients with CLL than in general population. We expect to find MBL in 5 % to 15 % of researched population with used detection techniques. 2. we expect that the most common finding in first-degree relatives of patients with CLL is CLL-like MBL, while the incidence of MBL in both groups will be higher in men. 3. we expect cytogenetic aberrations with the most common del(13). Mutation status IgVH is mutated in most cases. We focused on Slovenian region of Lower Carniola that represents typical Slovenian mix of rural and urban environment. With the help of Hospital Novo mesto 54 first-degree relatives of patients with CLL decided to participate in our study. For each relative we found 3 healthy subjects in general population who matched sex, age and location. Alltogether we analysed 216 samples. Average age of our subjects was 48,4 ± 13,1, median 48, age range 23 to 88 years. Male population was younger (average age 46,5 ± 13,3, median 45,5, age range 23 to 88 years) than female population (average age 50 ± 12,9, median 49, age range 25 to 86 years). Complete blood count was made on all samples to exclude unknown hematological diseases. All samples were analysed with 5-color flow cytomety (κ, λ, CD5, CD19, CD20) within 12 hours of blood removal. A single population was recognized as a MBL clone when at least 50 events with same characteristics were detected. Immunophenotype of MBL clone was determined after isolation of population positive on CD19. We also calculated κ : λ ratio. All samples with MBL clone were further analysed with conventional cytogenetics and FISH. Chromosome banding was done on stimulated blood samples. CD19 isolated positive lymphocytes B were isolated with positive selection on MBL samples. FISH analysis was performed on both isolated cells and on stimulated cells without prior isolation. Each MBL sample was analyzed for typical CLL chromosomal aberrations, IgVH mutation status was also determined on previously isolated cells. In the general population MBL was found in 7 of 162 samples (4,3 %) and in 3 of 54 samples (5,6 %) of first-degree relatives of patients with CLL. Alltogether we found MBL in 10 samples (4,6 %). Incidence of MBL was higher in first-degree relatives of patients with CLL, which was expected due to the similar discoveries of foreign studies. Average age of our cohort was 48 years, the incidence of MBL could be even higher if older population was analysed. We confirmed findings of other studies that the incidence of MBL increases with age. In general population, 6 of 7 subjects with MBL were older than 40 years. MBL was more common in men. All three categories of MBL were detected – 2 cases of CLL-like MBL (1 case of cMBL and 1 case of sMBL), 2 cases of CD5– MBL and 6 cases of atypical MBL. In comparisson with other MBL cases in one case with cMBL the number of lymphocytes B was much higher due to higher numbers of monoclonal B cells. With this study we gained first insight into incidence of this disease in our country. We can conclude that the incidence of MBL in Slovenia is around 5 %, similar to findings of foreign European studes. The incidence is higher in younger (≤ 50 years) first-degree relatives of patients with CLL (10 %). The differences in discovered MBL types could be linked to the properties of our cohort, which was younger than cohorts in foreign studies. We can also conclude that atypical MBL is more common in younger male adults. FISH analysis was used to determine chromosomal abnormalities. Sample M82 with cMBL featured del(13q) on 91 % of lymphocytes B. We found +12 with FISH on 5 % of cells, which was also confirmed with standard chromosome banding analysis. Conventional cytogenetics was used to determine mitotic index, which was overal higher in MBL samples (4,45 ‰) than in samples of healthy individuals (2,24 ‰). We were able to determine mutation status IgVH in two MBL samples. Sample with cMBL (M82) had mutated gene IGHV3-64 with 94,1 % homology, while sMBL sample (M57c) had mutated gene IGHV3-15*02 with 89,1 % homology. We determined a screening method for 5-color flow cytometry and determing method sensitivity by setting the detection limit for MBL lymphocytes clone. At least 50 events with the same characteristics are needed to confirm MBL clone. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on all 10 MBL samples, which contributed new data for all MBL subtypes. This was done only by few studies to date. Compared to most other studies, our cohort was overall younger. Our findings could therefore contribute to understanding the disease in younger adults.
|