Beschreibung:
<jats:p>In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), presence of acquired cytogenetic abnormalities may help to estimate prognosis. However, deletion of<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> gene, which is associated with an aggressive course of the disease and poor prognosis along with a lack of response to treatment, is one of the alterations which may escape cytogenetic diagnoses in CLL. Thus, other techniques have emerged such as interphase fluorescence<jats:italic> in situ</jats:italic> hybridization (iFISH). Deletion of<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> may but must not go together with the formation of an isochromosome i(17q); surprisingly this subgroup of patients was not in the focus of CLL studies yet. This study was about if presence of i(17q) could be indicative for a new subgroup in CLL with more adverse prognosis. As a result,<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> deletion was detected in 18 out of 150 (12%) here studied CLL cases. Six of those cases (~33%) had the<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> deletion accompanied by an i(17q). Interestingly, the cases with i(17q) showed a tendency towards more associated chromosomal aberrations. These findings may be the bases for follow-up studies in CLL patients with<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> deletion with and without i(17q); it may be suggested that the i(17q) presents an even more adverse prognostic marker than<jats:italic> TP53</jats:italic> deletion alone.</jats:p>