Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038002 (splenomegaly)
 9,873 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a disease of late middle age and older. The majority of patients are diagnosed because of a lymphocytosis of at least 5 x 10(9)/L on an incidental blood count. It needs to be distinguished from mantle cell lymphoma and splenic marginal zone lymphoma by lymphocyte markers. The immunophenotype of CLL is sparse surface immunoglobulin, CD5+, CD19+, CD23+, CD79b-, and FMC7-. The disease is staged according to the presence of lymphadenopathy and/or splenomegaly and the features of bone marrow suppression. Most patients have an early stage of disease when diagnosed and perhaps 50% will never progress. This group of patients have a normal life expectancy and do not require treatment beyond reassurance. Progression involves an increasing white cell count, enlarging lymph nodes and spleen, anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Complications of progression include autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and thrombocytopenia, immunodeficiency, and the development of a more aggressive lymphoma. A range of prognostic factors is available to predict progression, but most haematologists rely on close observation of the patient. Intermittent chlorambucil remains the first choice treatment for the majority of patients. Combination chemotherapy offers no advantage. Intravenous fludarabine is probably more effective than chlorambucil, but no trial has yet shown a survival advantage for using it first rather than as a salvage treatment in patients not responding to chlorambucil. It is at least 40 times as expensive as chlorambucil. Cladribine may be as effective as fludarabine, although it has been used less and is even more expensive. Patients who relapse after chlorambucil should be offered retreatment with the same agent and if refractory should be switched to fludarabine, which may also be offered for retreatment on relapse. For patients refractory to both drugs, a variety of options are available. High dose corticosteroids, high dose chlorambucil, CHOP (cyclophosphamide, prednisolone, vincristine and doxorubicin), anti-CD52, anti-CD20 and a range of experimental drugs which are being evaluated in clinical trials. Younger patients should be offered the chance of treatment with curative intent, preferably in the context of a clinical trial. Autologous stem cell transplantation after achieving a remission with fludarabine has relative safety and may produce molecular complete remissions. Only time will tell whether some of these patients are cured but it seems unlikely. Standard allogeneic bone marrow transplant is probably too hazardous for most patients, but non-myeloablative regimens hold out the hope of invoking a graft-versus-leukaemia effect without a high tumour-related mortality. Trials of immunotherapy are exciting options for a few patients in specialised centres.
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PMID:Achieving optimal outcomes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. 1136 85

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare chronic B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by splenomegaly, pancytopenia, and circulating atypical lymphocytes with circumferential cytoplasmic projections. Although uncommon, HCL cases refractory to standard therapy occur, and effective alternatives are limited. There is evolving literature supporting monoclonal antibody therapy in the treatment of B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including anti-CD52 (Campath-1H, alemtuzumab). We have examined nine cases of HCL and one case of HCL variant by flow cytometry for CD52 expression. All cases expressed CD52 antigen in 92-100% of the malignant cells. The demonstration of CD52 antigen expression on HCL cells provides the rationale for the use of alemtuzumab in refractory HCL.
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PMID:CD52 expression in hairy cell leukemia. 1463 1

A 72-year-old Japanese man presented with 43.1 x 10(9)/l hairy cells and apparent splenomegaly. The leukemia cells had unevenly distributed microvilli and round nuclei with dense chromatin and one or two clear nucleoli, lacked CD25 expression and were negative for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase. The case was diagnosed as hairy cell leukemia variant (HCLv) and proved refractory to various chemotherapies, including cladribine, pentostatin, interferon-alpha, CHOP and rituximab. Because of the CD52 expression, we treated the patient with alemtuzumab. Pretreatment with 22.5 Gy to the spleen reduced the spleen size from 12 to 4 cm below the left costal margin, and the number of circulating leukemic cells decreased from 229.0 to 63.6 x 10(9)/l. Subsequent administration of 24.0 mg of alemtuzumab eliminated leukemic cells in the peripheral blood on day 12, and the spleen was not palpable after the administration of 54.0 mg of alemtuzumab. In vitro treatment with alemtuzumab confirmed the cytotoxic effect against the patient's leukemic cells in the presence of complement. This is the first report showing clinical effectiveness of splenic irradiation and alemtuzumab against refractory HCLv.
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PMID:Effective treatment of a refractory hairy cell leukemia variant with splenic pre-irradiation and alemtuzumab. 1825 14