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Controversial fluorescence in situ hybridization cytogenetic abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: new insights from a large cohort
Author(s) -
Davids Matthew S.,
Vartanov Alexander,
Werner Lillian,
Neuberg Donna,
Dal Cin Paola,
Brown Jennifer R.
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.1111/bjh.13498
Subject(s) - fluorescence in situ hybridization , cytogenetics , medicine , cohort , chronic lymphocytic leukemia , fish <actinopterygii> , chromosome abnormality , karyotype , pathology , chromosome , biology , genetics , leukemia , fishery , gene
Summary The significance of rarer cytogenetic abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia ( CLL ) remains controversial. We performed fluorescence in situ hybridization ( FISH ) prior to initial therapy on 618 CLL patients seen at our centre between 2005 and 2012. With a median follow‐up of 5·6 years, we found that 55 patients harbouring 14q32 rearrangements without t(14;18) had a shorter time to first treatment ( TTFT ) (median 26 months, P = 0·03) than patients with t(14;18) (median not reached). Patients with mono‐ or bi‐allelic del(13q) as a sole abnormality had a similarly long TTFT (median not reached). Those patients who harboured 3 or more FISH abnormalities without del(17p) had a short TTFT (4·6 months), comparable to patients with del(17p) (8 months); however, the overall survival for patients with 3 or more FISH abnormalities was longer than for patients with del(17p) with 0 or 1 additional abnormalities (median not reached vs. 54 months). FISH cytogenetics remains a useful genetic tool in the clinic, even in the era of next generation sequencing and, as such, our data provide valuable new insights for counselling patients.