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Integration of morphological and immunophenotypic data is critical in achieving diagnosis accuracy and minimising interobserver interpretative discrepancies. The aim of this work was to compare the immunophenotype and the morphology of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and mantle cell lymphoma, to help in the differential diagnosis of CD5 positive monoclonal B cells. Frozen/thawed samples from 91 patients were analysed retrospectively. Fresh samples from 17 mixed/atypical CLL and 13 MCL were tested to corroborate the results. Markers were analysed as percentage (%) of positive B lymphocyte subpopulation, and in terms of median fluorescence intensity (MFI). Matutes's CLL score clearly allowed distinguishing between classical CLL on the one hand, and atypical CLL and MCL on the other hand. The percentage of CD54-positive cells and the median fluorescence intensity of CD20 and CD54 were the only parameters which were significantly higher in MCL than in atypical CLL (P < 0.05), allowing an immunological distinction between these two entities. Nevertheless, due to a quenching problem when using CD20 and CD54 together, and because CD18 showed a statistically different expression between classical and atypical CLL, the combination of CD18/CD54 has been preferred and showed a different pattern in the three entities. Immunophenotyping could be helpful in the differential diagnosis of CD5-positive B cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders with atypical features that do not fit exactly into any of the morphologic proposed groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because 2-chloro-2'-deoxyadenosine (CdA) is active in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), and may interfere with DNA repair, we investigated the potentiating effect of CdA on the cytotoxicity induced in vitro in B-CLL lymphocytes by cyclophosphamide (CP) derivatives, which induce DNA damage by DNA cross-linking. Exposure to CdA at clinically achievable concentrations for 2 h, followed by mafosfamide (MAF) or 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (4HC) for 22 h, resulted in synergistic cytotoxicity in the majority of B-CLL samples tested. Synergy between CdA and MAF was observed in cell samples of sensitive/untreated patients, as well as in cells of resistant/pretreated patients, particularly at the highest concentrations of MAF. In the cells treated with CdA and MAF, we observed loss in ATP and hallmarks of apoptosis, as evidenced by cellular morphology and high molecular weight DNA fragmentation. The synergy could be explained neither by an influence of MAF on the phosphorylation of CdA, nor by an increase in the incorporation of CdA into DNA in the presence of MAF. The in vitro synergy between CdA and CP derivatives provides a rationale for the use of this association in B-CLL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]