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  • Letter to the Editor
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Reply to Pittner et al.

Leukemia volume 20, pages 528–529 (2006)Cite this article

In their published study, Pittner et al.,1 by comparing the gene expression profiling (GEP) of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells either expressing or not expressing the negative prognosticator CD38, were able to find a striking correlation between the overexpression of CD38 and that of the integrin α-chain CD49d. Interestingly, the same conclusion was reached in a recent study of ours, in which the expression of surface antigens, instead of genes, was analyzed.2 So the two studies corroborate each other. In addition, we provided evidences on the clinical value of CD49d expression in B-CLL by demonstrating the association between worse prognosis and overexpression of the molecule, as well as the complementary value of CD38 and CD49d as adverse prognosticators.3

By replying to this report,4 Pittner et al. made, among others, some comments regarding how to compare their own results on CD38 and CD49d expression, evaluated as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ratio (i.e. a ratio between the total MFI of the surface marker divided by the total MFI of the corresponding isotypic control), with those reported in our studies,2, 3 in which expression values were computed as per cent of positive cells. To address this issue, we selected 61 cases of our series in which expression values for CD38 and CD49d were computed by using both the per cent of positive cells and MFI values, these latter values expressed in linear scale from 0 to 10 000. Median value of MFI ratios for CD38 and CD49d, computed exactly as in Pittner et al.,1 were 1.8 (range 0–36) and 3.8 (range 0–37), respectively. By comparing per cent of positive cell and MFI ratio values, direct correlations yielding significant r-values (0.92 for CD38 and 0.77 for CD49d) were obtained.

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References

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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 (PN), Rome, 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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  3. M Dal Bo
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  4. P Bulian
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  8. M Degan
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  9. V Gattei
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Correspondence to V Gattei.

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Zucchetto, A., Bomben, R., Dal Bo, M. et al. Reply to Pittner et al.. Leukemia 20, 528–529 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404089

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