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GB Faguet and JF Agee
Medical Service, VA Medical Center, Augusta, GA 30910.
The clinical usefulness of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) against the cCLLa,
an antigen restricted to B-chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) and its
variants, was ascertained in 65 patients with overt CLL and 25 individuals
with unexplained mild lymphocytosis. Healthy volunteers (n = 25) and
patients with malignant and nonmalignant disorders (n = 58) served as
controls. The following observations were made in CLL. (a) Anti-cCLLa MoAbs
identified neoplastic CLL cells as judged by the high correlation (r =
.985) between monoclonal surface immunoglobulins (Slgs) and cCLLa
expression in all patients, and dual-label flow cytometry studies showing
cCLLa expression by monoclonal Slg-bearing B- CLL cells but not by normal B
lymphocytes. (b) The size of the circulating cCLLa-positive clone
paralleled the degree of lymphocytosis (r = .987) and was associated with
reciprocal (r = .893) relative T lymphopenia. Ten patients with borderline
lymphocytosis exhibited a subset of monoclonal Slg/cCLLa-positive cells
ranging from 16% to 45% of the total. These patients were indistinguishable
from those with CLL in terms of age, clone lineage, and reciprocal relative
T lymphopenia. Two patients have progressed to overt CLL within 19 months,
but eight have not (observation time, 18 to 82 months). These data suggest
that anti-cCLLa MoAbs are sensitive probes useful to identify and monitor
cCLLa clones during their clinical and preclinical phases.
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