Unexpectedly high frequency of European parentage in Venezuelan patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

There is insufficient information on the characteristics of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in Latin American patients. Immunoglobulin variable-region heavy-chain (IGVH) gene usage and mutation status and prognostic factors were investigated in patients resident in Venezuela. The most frequently used IGVH family genes were: VH3 > VH1 > VH4 > VH5, with a high incidence of IGVH1.69 and IGVH3.21 genes, and 55.2% of IGVH genes were mutated. Analysis of HCDR3 (third complementarity-determining region of the heavy chain) revealed that 24% of Venezuelan HCDR3s belonged to a CLL stereotyped HCDR3. Results for prognostic factors were similar to those reported previously for Caucasian populations. Interestingly, we found an over-representation of people of European extraction among Venezuelan patients with CLL, suggesting the possibility of a higher frequency of susceptibility genes for CLL in Europeans in comparison with Latin American mestizos.

Keywords::

• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
• IGVH mutational status
• CD38 antigen
• ZAP-70

Acknowledgements

We thank Guillermo Suarez for technical support. This work was supported by grant LOCTI 674 (from Cientifica Industrial de Venezuela, Biosigma and Montarca) awarded to E.R., and by funds from the IVIC awarded to E.R. and M.E.M.

Potential conflict of interest:

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