ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 2020, a short-lived epidemic of a spike del69-70 deletion variant of SARS-CoV-2 was identified, with most cases (n = 95) found in Montceau-les-Mines, France. This spike gene target failure (SGTF) variant spread quickly in nursing homes. The Alpha variant, which also harbors this deletion, appeared in Burgundy in January 2021 after the disappearance of the Montceau-les-Mines del69-70 variant. Our findings illustrate the risk of the fast spread of geographically isolated variants and reinforce the need for the continuous tracking of outbreaks. In some cases, these studies may reveal emerging variants that affect public health or vaccine development.
ABSTRACT
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) follows a heterogeneous clinical course, and several biological parameters have been investigated to try to predict its clinical outcome. New staging systems including cytogenetics and CD38 expression as predictive values have been developed. Deletions of 11q22.3 approximately q23.1 detected at diagnosis in cases of CLL patients have been associated with a relatively aggressive disease. This region, which contains the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) locus, may be implicated in the pathogenesis of lymphoid malignancies. We developed a set of dual-color specific probes to evaluate the ATM deletion by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We also used flow cytometry to investigate CD38 expression. Forty-one patients with CLL or low-grade B-cell lymphomas were studied at diagnosis or before treatment. FISH showed that only three CLL patients had deletions in the 11q23 locus; all three had progressive disease and were resistant to treatment. These data show that our FISH set of probes efficiently detects ATM deletions in CLL. No correlation was found between ATM deletions and CD38 expression level. These results confirm the prognostic significance of ATM deletions in CLL.