Immunoglobulin gene rearrangements and in vitro growth of stromal cells are prognostic indexes in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a disease characterized by an accumulation of monoclonal B cells that are resistant to apoptosis. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the prognosis depends on the stage of the disease, according to the classifications of Rai and Binet. However, in recent years, the number of patients with very early disease (stage 0 of Rai) and without any clinical symptom, has considerably increased because of the extensive use of automatic apparatus for leukocyte counting and immunophenotypic analysis of lymphocytes. It has become, therefore, useful to find new prognostic criteria particularly for these patients. In the present study, 30 patients with B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia were investigated for stage of the disease, survival, immunoglobulin gene rearrangements, presence of nurse like cells in in vitro cultures and spontaneous clinical lymph node regression. We observed that all these criteria are useful prognostic indexes for the disease.