CpG Oligonucleotide and Interleukin 2 stimulation enables higher cytogenetic abnormality detection rates than 12-o-tetradecanolyphorbol-13-acetate in Asian patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL)

The present study was designed to com- pare abnormality detection rates using DSP30 + IL2 and 12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in Asian patients with B-CLL. Hematological specimens from 47 patients (29 newly diagnosed, 18 relapsed) were established as 72 h-DSP30 + IL2 and TPA cultures. Standard methods were employed to identify clonal aberrations by conventional cytogenetics (CC). The B-CLL fluorescence in situ hybridi- zation (FISH) panel comprised ATM, CEP12, D13S25, and TP53 probes. DSP30 + IL2 cultures had a higher chromo- somal abnormality detection rate (67 %) compared to TPA (44 %, p 0.05). Thirteen cases with abnormalities were found exclusively in DSP30 + IL2 cultures compared to one found solely in TPA cultures. DSP30 + IL2 cultures were comparable to the FISH panel in detecting 11q− , +12 and 17p− but not 13q− . It also has a predilection for 11q− bearing leukemic cells compared to TPA. FISH had a higher abnormality detec- tion rate (84.1 %) compared to CC (66.0 %) with border- line significance (p = 0.051), albeit limited by its coverage.