Table 3.

Overview of Studies that Reported Frequency of MBL Among Clinically Unaffected Relatives of CLL Patients

Authors, year (reference)	Country, study period, and study population	Laboratory tests and clinical evaluation	MBL criteria	Frequency of MBL N (%)
Matos et al., 2009 (17)	Brazil Study period not specified First-degree relatives of 42 randomly selected families with sporadic (non-familial) CLL  Total n: 167  Age: 18–84 years  Male 73; female 94	Flow cytometry Acquisition: 3 × 105 events/sample  Four color screening: CD20/CD79b/CD19/CD5;k/λ/CD19/CD5; polyclonal k/polyclonal λ/CD19/CD5  Extended panel for cases with CLL-phe notype: CD11a, CD23, CD38, CD49c, CD49d, CD54, FMC7 PCR analysis for IGHV and T-cell receptor genes FISH	A clonal B-cell cluster of minimum 100 cellular events MBL: CLL-specific immunophenotype or an overall k/λ ratio >3:1 or <0.3:1; stable monoclonal population over a 3-month period; no lymphadeno-pathy, organomegaly, autoimmune or infectious diseases; BALC <5 × 109/L CLL-like MBL: CD5+, CD23+, CD20dim Atypical CLL-like MBL:  CD5+, CD23+/−, CD20bright	All MBL: 7/167 (4.2%)  Male/female: (6.8%)/(2.1%)  Age: <40 (0%), 40–60 (2.5%), >60 (15.6%) CLL-like MBL: 6/167 (3.6%) Atypical CLL: 1/167 (0.6%)
Marti et al., 2003 (18)	United States Study period not specified First-degree relatives of CLL cases among 9 kindreds enrolled in a familial-CLL registry  Total n: 33	Flow cytometry  Two and three color: CD45/CD14; CD3/CD19; CD3/CD16+CD56; CD4/CD8; CD19/CD5;CD20/CD5; CD19/CD23; k/λ/CD19; CD10/CD34/CD19; k/CD22/CD20; λ/CD22/CD20; PCR analysis for IGHV gene Clinical evaluation	Lymphocyte count <5 × 109/L MBL: A flow cytometric detection of CLL-phenotype or a detectable population of CD5− monoclonal B-cells Absence of a history of B-cell leukemia or other related lymphoproliferative diseases	All MBL: 6/33 (18%)
Rawstron et al., 2002 (19)	United Kingdom Study period not specified Healthy, first-degree relatives of CLL cases in 21 families with 2 or more members who had CLL  Total n: 59  Age: 23–86 years Healthy spouses  Total n: 23  Age: 23–79 years	Flow cytometry  Four color: CD20/CD79b/CD19/CD5; k/λ/CD19/CD5  Extended panel for cases representing more than 50 events in all 3 CLL regions: CD19, CD20, CD5, and either CD11a, CD22, CD23, CD27, CD38, k, λ, or FMC7	CLL-phenotype MBL: CD20weak or negative, CD5positive, CD79bweak or negative, CD22weak, FMC7weak	First-degree relatives: CLL-phenotype MBL: 8/59 (13.6%) Spouse: CLL-phenotype MBL 1/23 (4.3%)