THE PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL LYMPHOCYTE SUBTYPES IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKAEMIA

Abstract

It is well established that, with few exceptions, chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL) involves a clonal proliferation of cells of the B-lymphocyte series. From the weak expression of surface immunoglobulin (Smlg), CLL population are considered to be arrested at a relatively early stage of B­ lymphocyte maturation. This study included sixty patients newly diagnosed with CLL at different stages of the disease (according to Rai classification). These cases were divided as 12 cases stages (zero and I), 22 cases stage II, 14 cases stage III, and 12 cases stage IV. Out ofthese cases 41 were males and 19 were females. The examined cases had an age ranging from 40 to71 years. All the sixty cases were of B cell origin as evident by the negative or fme granular positivety with acid phosphatase cytochemistry and by the pattern of the cell marker expression revealed by the imrnunophenotyping. All patients were clinically examined with especial emphasis on lymph node, spleen and liver. Laboratory investigations included complete blood count, absolute and relative lymphocytic count, bone marrow examination, lymphocyte morphological subtypes, and lymphocyte doubling time (LDT). Also, the imrnunopheotyping were determined using Avidin­ Biotin complex technique with monoclonal antibodies against B, T, and NK cells [CD19, K, 'A, CD3, CD4, CDs, CDs, CD 10, CD56, CD16, and anti heavy chain (f.l)].