Prognostic value of proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in
chronic lymphoid leukemia
A del Giglio, S O'Brien, R Ford, H Saya, J Manning, M Keating, D Johnston, R Khetan, A el-Naggar and A Deisseroth
Department of Hematology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,
Houston 77030.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a usually indolent disease that can
assume an aggressive clinical course in some patients. To develop assays
that would be predictive of how a particular patient's disease would
evolve, we studied the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen
(PCNA) by Western blotting in 40 patients with CLL. The concentration of
PCNA, a cofactor for delta DNA-dependent DNA polymerase, is indicative of
the proliferative state of the cell. Significantly lower PCNA levels were
observed in earlier stage CLL when compared with more advanced disease. The
leukemic cell proliferative rate, assessed by lymphocyte doubling time and
flow cytometry, also correlated significantly with the level of PCNA
expression. These results suggest that a high level of PCNA in the cells of
CLL patients at presentation identifies a subgroup of patients whose CLL
cells have a higher proliferative activity and who may, therefore, have a
potentially shorter survival.
Volume 79,
Issue 10,
pp. 2717-2720,
05/15/1992
Copyright © 1992 by The American Society of Hematology
