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Leukaemic CD5 + B‐cell apoptosis: co‐incidence of cell death and DNA fragmentation with reduced bcl‐2 expression
Author(s) -
Tangye Stuart G.,
Raison Robert L.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1996.427965.x
Subject(s) - dna fragmentation , apoptosis , programmed cell death , fragmentation (computing) , cancer research , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , biology , genetics , ecology
Apoptosis and bcl‐2 expression were characterized in leukaemic B cells during in vitro culture. Prior to culture, >% of cells from each B‐CLL patient expressed high levels of bcl‐2. Despite this, all leukaemic B‐cell populations underwent apoptosis in vitro . Furthermore, bcl‐2 was down‐regulated such that the B cells displayed a bcl‐2 high and/or bcl‐2 low phenotype. However, the overall number of bcl‐2‐positive cells remained constant. We propose that although enhanced survival of leukaemic B cells in vivo is mediated by the sustained expression of bcl‐2, it is apparent that additional mechanisms are capable of overriding the protective effect of bcl‐2 when bcl‐2 is expressed at reduced levels.