Figure 2.

Upregulation of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs predicts poor survival in CLL patients. (A) Kaplan-Meier curves of CLL patients with <40% (n=25) versus >40% (n=24) CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs in the CD14⁺ monocytes (log-rank test, P<0.0001). (B) Frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs in CD14⁺ monocytes of CLL patients stratified by CD38 expression levels compared with the control. A significantly higher frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs were identified in CD38^high (n=15) and CD38^low patients (n=34) compared with the healthy controls (n=21) (both P<0.0001). The CD38^high subgroup tended to have higher frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs compared with the CD38^low subgroup (P=0.0335). (C) A significantly higher frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs in CD14⁺ monocytes was identified in ZAP-70^high (n=17) and ZAP-70^low patients (n=32) compared with the healthy controls (n=21) (both P<0.0001), and the ZAP-70^high subgroup exhibited a higher frequency than the ZAP-70^low subgroup (P=0.0003). (D) A significantly higher frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs in CD14⁺ monocytes was identified in U-IGHV (n=14) and M-IGHV patients (n=35) compared with in the healthy controls (n=21) (both P<0.0001), and the ZAP-70^high subgroup exhibited a higher frequency than the ZAP-70^low subgroup (P=0.0019). (E) A significantly higher frequency of CD14⁺HLA-DR^low/− MDSCs in CD14⁺ monocytes was identified in U/CD38^high (n=10) and M/CD38^low patients (n=35) compared with in the healthy controls (n=21) (both P<0.0001), and the U/CD38^high subgroup exhibited a higher frequency than the M/CD38^low subgroup (P=0.0052). ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01 and ^***P<0.001. CD14, cluster of differentiation 14; HLA, human leukocyte antigen; MDSCs, myeloid-derived suppressor cells; ZAP-70, ζ-chain-associated protein kinase-70; CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia; M, mutated; U, unmutated.