Abstract
Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I‐FISH) studies have a remarkable prognostic value in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). I‐FISH studies can be performed either on tetradecanoylphorbol acetate stimulated peripheral blood cells (I‐FISH‐TPA) or unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (I‐FISH‐PBMC). The aim of the study was to evaluate whether this finding was clinically relevant in a group of 235 patients with CLL. Fifty‐six patients had both I‐FISH‐TPA and I‐FISH‐PBMC results. Compared with uncultured cells, the cytogenetic detection rate rose from 57 to 80% with the use of TPA‐stimulated cells (P = 0.014). I‐FISH‐TPA provided a better prediction of treatment‐free survival compared with I‐FISH‐PBMC (P = 0.031 vs. 0.166). Then, I‐FISH‐PBMC results from 93 historical patients were compared with 86 recent patients with I‐FISH‐TPA results. Genomic aberrations were detected in 46 and 67% of patients from the I‐FISH‐PBMC and I‐FISH‐TPA cohorts, respectively. The detection rate of 13q deletion as the only aberration increased from 10% with I‐FISH‐PBMC to 37% with I‐FISH‐TPA (P = 0.006). In conclusion, I‐FISH‐TPA increased the detection rate of 13q deletion and had an improved prognostic value compared with I‐FISH‐PBMC. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.