Expression of Bcl2L12 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: association with clinical and molecular prognostic markers.

Dysregulation of apoptosis is a distinctive feature of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), although a unique mechanism underlying apoptosis resistance of CLL B lymphocytes has not been identified yet. Aberrant expression as well as genetic and epigenetic alterations of numerous genes involved in different pathways of apoptosis regulation has been described in CLL. Here, we report the expression analysis of Bcl2L12 (Bcl2-like 12), a novel apoptotic gene belonging to Bcl2 family, in 58 Serbian CLL patients. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed a significant overexpression of Bcl2L12 mRNA in CLL samples compared to non-leukemic samples, implying its role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that Bcl2L12 expression efficiently discriminates CLL cases from healthy controls. However, relatively homogenous Bcl2L12 mRNA expression among patients did not reflect their clinical characteristics (with the exception of lactate dehydrogenase status and time from diagnosis to treatment) and failed to show association with the most informative prognostic markers, namely the mutational status of rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region genes, CD38 and lipoprotein lipase gene (LPL) expression.