Telomere dysfunction and fusion during the progression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia: evidence for a telomere

crisis

by Thet Thet Lin, Boitelo T. Letsolo, Rhiannon E. Jones, Jan Rowson, Guy Pratt, Saman Hewamana, Chris Fegan, Chris Pepper, and Duncan M. Baird

BloodVolume 116(11):1899-1907

September 16, 2010

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

Poor-prognosis CLL patients exhibit short telomere length distributions.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

Telomere length correlates with prognostic markers, and heterogeneity indicates clonal growth.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

CLL patients displaying short TTAGGG repeat lengths exhibit telomere fusion.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

Telomere fusion occurs between very short telomeres and is characterized by extensive deletion and microhomology at the fusion point.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

Complete telomere loss in CLL patients.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology

Genomic instability in CLL patients exhibiting telomere dysfunction.

Thet Thet Lin et al. Blood 2010;116:1899-1907

©2010 by American Society of Hematology