TY - JOUR AU - M Lopez-Matas, AU - M Rodriguez-Justo, AU - R Morilla, AU - D Catovsky, AU - E Matutes, PY - 2000/11/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Quantitative expression of CD23 and its ligand CD21 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia JF - Haematologica JA - haematol VL - 85 IS - 11 SE - Articles DO - 10.3324/%x UR - https://haematologica.org/article/view/1860 SP - 1140-1145 AB - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cells from the great majority of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) express CD23. A recent histologic study has shown that CD23 is expressed more strongly in the proliferating centers of the lymph nodes, where the large prolymphocytoid cells are located. The aim of our study was to quantify the expression of CD23 and CD21 in small and prolymphocytoid cells from patients with CLL and B-cell lymphomas, and correlate this expression with clinical parameters. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using quantitative flow cyto-metry we analyzed the antigen density of CD23 and CD21 in: 1) 101 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 84 typical, 14 with increased prolymphocytes (CLL/PL) and 3 atypical, 2) 15 cases of CD23 positive B-cell lymphoma with circulating lymphoma cells and 3) 8 normal subjects. The results were correlated with morphology and clinical staging. RESULTS: Cells from CLL and CLL/PL have a significantly higher number of CD23 molecules than normal and lymphoma B-cells (p