ABS 114: Gene Expression in Malignant Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Cells and Clinical Outcomes

Fernanda Costilla Correa ¹ , Yousuf Haidari ¹ , Taylor Aucutt ¹ , Camila Nieto ¹ , Brandt Jones ¹ , Myke Madsen ¹ , Julie Feusier ¹ , Brian Avery ¹ , Nicola J. Camp.¹

¹ The University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute

Van Wickle (2025) Volume 1, ABS 114

Introduction: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is a malignancy of B lymphocytes with an incidence of 4.7/100,000 new cases per year. CLL is one of the more common adult-onset heamatological malignancies. Around 200 thousand people in the USA live with CLL. Better methods to identify patients in need of therapies is a clinical need. SPECTRA is a promising new statistical technique to characterize global gene expression (the transcriptome) of a tumor by representing it as multiple quantitative tumor variables, called “spectra”. Spectra variables can be used in statistical modeling to identify high-risk groups.

Methods: Transcriptome data from 257 CLL patients attending the Huntsman Cancer Hospital was used to derive 22 CLL spectra describing CLL malignant cells. Each patient has their unique set of CLL spectra values (spectra “barcode”). Similarities and differences in patients can be visualized with barcodes. Descriptive modeling showed spectra could identify known clinical risk markers (IGHV mutation status). Predictive modeling using spectra identified risk groups for survival. In this way, a patient’s tumor transcriptome predicts whether they are at high-risk to progress or to die sooner.

Results: To replicate our findings, we are collecting and processing biological samples from more CLL patients from Huntsman Cancer Hospital. We collect peripheral blood and cell-sort to identify malignant cells (CD19+/CD5+). RNA is extracted from these cells and sequenced to generate transcriptome data and the spectra calculated. Non-malignant cells from the cell-sorting procedure are used to extract normal DNA.

Discussion: The SPECTRA technique provides a more complete understanding of CLL by better characterizing the malignancy. Each spectra is a different tumor characteristic. Our future research includes investigation of whether inherited variations (in normal DNA) are associated with particular CLL spectra, and other characteristics of CLL, toward early detection and prevention efforts. We are also pursuing the SPECTRA technique in several other cancers.