PHA/IL2: An Efficient Mitogen Cocktail for Cytogenetic Studies of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

This study documents the utility of a mitogen/cytokine cocktail composed of phytohemagglutinin and Interleukin 2 (PHA/IL2) used to stimulate cultures from patients with chronic lymphoproliferative disorders. We report the results of a selected series of 57 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), in which only the culture stimulated with PHA/IL2 demonstrated the presence of an abnormal clone. On average, cells in the abnormal clone comprised 40% of the mitotic cells in this culture. The most common abnormalities observed in these patients were trisomy 12, present in 39% of the cases, and t(14;18), seen in 14% of cases.