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CD49d in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia: correlated expression with CD38 and prognostic relevance

Leukemia volume 20, pages 523–525 (2006)Cite this article

We read with interest the recently published study by Pittner et al.,1 in which the authors, by extending exploratory experiments presented in the context of the 2003 Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (Pittner et al., Blood 2003; 102: 670a, abstract), investigated by gene expression profiling (GEP) of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells the genes whose expression was associated with that of CD38, a well-known marker of aggressive disease course.2 Interestingly, among the genes found as overexpressed in CD38-positive B-CLLs, they were able to identify CD49d, a.k.a. α4 integrin, a gene transcribing for a molecule functionally acting as adhesion structure for extracellular matrix components.3 Results of GEP experiments were confirmed at the protein level by investigating the co-expression of CD38 and CD49d on B-CLL cells by flow cytometry.1

A novel approach to analyze the simultaneous and coordinated expression of wide arrays of surface antigens by B-CLL cells has been recently proposed by us and named, in analogy with GEP, surface-antigen expression profiling.4 According to this method, antigen expression values, as identified by flow cytometry, can be analyzed by data-mining tools identical to those employed in GEP studies, including unsupervised and supervised algorithms, with the aim of identifying the immunophenotypic signatures of specific B-CLL subsets. In particular, since we were interested in the immunophenotypic characterization of B-CLL subsets with different prognosis, we investigated the expression of a wide panel of surface markers, including cell-adhesion molecules, integrins, complement activity regulators, myeloid, T and B antigens, in a cohort of B-CLLs, all with survival data available. By sequentially applying unsupervised (hierarchical and non-hierarchical) clustering algorithms, and the nearest shrunken centroids method as class predictor, we identified three immunophenotypic profiles, one corresponding to good prognosis B-CLLs and two characterizing disease subgroups with shorter survivals. A striking finding of these studies was the correlated overexpression of both CD38 and CD49d, identified as part of the signature characterizing one of the two B-CLL subgroups with worse prognosis. Preliminary results of these studies were reported at the 2003 Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (Gattei et al., Blood 2003; 102: 667a, abstract).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by Ministero della Salute (Ricerca Finalizzata IRCCS and ‘Alleanza Contro il Cancro’), Rome, Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical and Experimental Hematology Research Unit, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, IRCCS, Aviano, Pordenone, Italy

    A Zucchetto, R Bomben, M Dal Bo, P Bulian, D Benedetti, P Nanni, M Degan & V Gattei

  2. Hematology Section, S Eugenio Hospital, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    G Del Poeta

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  1. A Zucchetto
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  2. R Bomben
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  8. M Degan
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  9. V Gattei
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Zucchetto, A., Bomben, R., Dal Bo, M. et al. CD49d in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia: correlated expression with CD38 and prognostic relevance. Leukemia 20, 523–525 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404087

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