AbstractUsing a sister chromatid differentiation technique, cell cycle study of stimulated lymphocytes of B‐Cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B‐CLL) revealed their cell cycle progression to be similar to that of normal lymphocytes stimulated by T‐cell and various polyclonal B‐cell activators (PBA). The chromosome constitutions of stimulated lymphocytes in 62 patients with B‐CLL were examined using PBA such as Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) and lipopolysaccharide W fromE. coli055:B5 (LPS). Of the 20 patients with abnormal clones, 11 patients had trisomy 12; other less common abnormalities were trisomy 1, 6q‐, i(7q), 14q+, trisomy 16, trisomy 18, reciprocal translocations, and marker chromosomes of unknown origin. These findings indicate that trisomy 12 may be a unique and common karyotypic change in B‐CLL. The fact that 3 out of 4 patients with marker chromosomes showed stage IV disease may indicate that a clone with a marker is a predictor of an unfavourable prognosis. The near correlation between trisomy 12 and K chains existed (0.05展开▼
