CD31 density is a novel risk factor for patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Abstract

CD31 is the physiological ligand for CD38. CD38 expression in a high percentage of malignant cells is a risk factor for patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL). A previous investigation demonstrated that quantification of CD38 improves upon the prognostic value of the percentage expression. A recent study states that the percentage of CD31 expression is not predictive in B-CLL. We reassessed the predictive power of CD31 in a cohort of 120 patients with B-CLL. Peripheral blood cells were stained with PCP-labelled anti (α)-CD19, FITC-α-CD5 and PE-α-CD31 antibodies. CD31 expression was quantified using beads of specific antibody binding capacity and the density was correlated with clinical outcome. End points were disease-specific survival and time to treatment (TTT). We report that CD31 density was significantly lower in the group of patients with Binet stage B and C of disease progression (P=0.0003). There was an inverse, significant correlation between CD31 and CD38 densities (R=-0.281, P=0.002). All CLL-related deaths occurred in patients with low CD31 density. Low CD31 predicted for poor disease outcome (survival, P=0.0087; TTT, P=0.0064) and identified Binet stage A patients (survival, P=0.0350; TTT, P=0.0716) and those with low CD38 (survival: all patients, P<0.0001; stage A, P=0.003) who followed a more aggressive clinical course. Disease-specific survival of patients with low CD31 and high CD38 densities was significantly shorter than all other groups. In addition, low CD31 density was a poor risk factor irrespective of patient age (survival: all patients, P=0.045; stage A, P=0.021) and identified patients with Binet stage B/C as the highest risk group (P<0.0001). In conclusion, low CD31 density is an adverse prognostic indicator in B-CLL. Also, low CD31 density enhances the prognostic power of CD38 density. The interaction between CD31 and CD38 and its clinical significance in B-CLL requires further investigation.

CD38 through the life of a murine B lymphocyte

“…Expression of CD38 is a negative prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and is associated with short survival and relative lack of IgVH mutation, but the relationship is not absolute (47–51). Although, discussing the role of CD38 in CLL and other lymphomas is beyond the scope of this review, the description of its interaction with CD31 can give us some light in how CD38 is participating in cell activation and survival.…”

Human CD38hiCD138+Plasma Cells Can Be Generated In Vitro from CD40-Activated Switched-Memory B Lymphocytes

“…CD31 is an adhesion molecule that participates in cellular interactions [ 50 , 51 ] and is a ligand for CD38 [ 52 ]. Their interaction has been associated with the microenvironment of leukemia cells [ 53 – 55 ] and high CD31 density has been associated to B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia [ 56 ]. On the other hand, CD39 is an integral membrane protein, whose main role is to metabolize extracellular ATP and ADP into AMP [ 57 ].…”

Cloning and Stable Expression of cDNA Coding For Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule -1 (PECAM-1, CD31) in NIH-3T3 Cell Line

“…6,7 Because expression of CD38 correlates with poor prognosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), 8 clinical implication of its natural ligand, CD31, 9 has also been investigated 10 and showed that expression of CD31 further defines a sub-group of disease 11 and low expression of this marker is an adverse prognostic factor. 12 Anti-CD31 mouse monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and their derivatives chimeric and humanized MAbs, therefore could be useful tools in diagnosis, research and therapy of diseases. Production of MAbs by hybridoma technology was first introduced by George Kohler and Cesar Milestain.…”