The investigators hypothesize that Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) expression on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) cells will predict a more aggressive clinical course. The results from this proposal will validate the use of a novel antibody developed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in CLL and will predict CLL patients that have a more aggressive form of the disease. The investigators work will also provide direct evidence that LPL is expressed on CLL cells and provides a critical source of fatty acids required by the CLL cells to grow and survive. Fatty acid metabolism may become a therapeutic target in CLL in the future.
The investigators plan to use a novel antibody developed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to characterize the expression of LPL in CLL. Peripheral blood from CLL patients will be analyzed by flow cytometry to detect the expression of LPL and to investigate if LPL expression correlates with a more aggressive type of CLL. The investigators propose that LPL protein expression on CLL cells is prognostic and that LPL and other proteins involved in fatty acid metabolism are critical for CLL cells to survive.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
29
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States
LPL Protein Expression
Determine the degree of LPL protein expression in CLL cells using a novel LPL antibody, correlate with IgHV mutation status, and compare this association with other prognostic markers
Time frame: 1 year
Fatty acid acquisition and synthesis
Demonstrate that CLL cells also possess the enzymatic machinery for fatty acid acquisition and synthesis as shown by the expression of LPL, CD36, SDC1, and fatty acid synthase
Time frame: 1 year
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