Activation-induced cytidine deaminase in chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells: expression as multiple forms in a dynamic, variably sized fraction of the clone.

The degree of somatic mutation of immunoglobulin variable (Ig V) region genes is an important prognostic indicator of clinical course and outcome in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), although the reason for this association remains unclear. Furthermore, some B-CLL cells continue to acquire Ig V gene mutations after the transforming event. Because activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is an essential component of the canonical somatic hypermutation process in healthy B cells, its expression in B-CLL is potentially relevant to the disease. We detected full-length AID transcripts and 3 splice variants by conventional reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in approximately 40% of the cases examined. More sensitive real-time quantitative PCR detected AID transcripts in virtually all B-CLL samples tested, although the range of transcript levels was very large between different cases and varied within individual cases over time. Limiting dilution assays revealed that AID expression was restricted to a small fraction of the leukemic cells in the blood. However, this small fraction is not unique in its ability to express AID, because in vitro stimulation of B-CLL cells with appropriate stimuli significantly increased the fraction of AID-expressing cells. These data suggest that AID-mediated DNA alterations may occur in a variably sized, minor subset of B-CLL cells at any given time.