Annals of Oncology 13:1792-1798, 2002
© 2002 European Society for Medical Oncology
Original Paper |
T-cell neoplasms: a clinicopathological study of 11 cases
1 Hematology Division and 2 Clinical Laboratory Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Received 25 October 2001; revised 21 March 2002; accepted 10 April 2002
Background:
The majority of T-cell neoplasms express T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) 
ß on their cell surface, and a few cases show the TCR 
phenotype. Recently, a variety of T-cell neoplasm was recognized; however, its clinicopathological features have not been extensively analyzed. Here we report the results of a clinicopathological study of 11 cases of T-cell neoplasm.
Patients and methods:
During the 11-year period from 1989 to 1999, 104 patients with T-cell neoplasms were examined by flow cytometric analysis and/or immunohistochemical analysis. Tumor cells from all 104 patients expressed one or more of the T-cell antigens—CD2, CD3, CD5 and CD7. Forty-nine of the 104 cases of T-cell neoplasms were examined immunophenotypically for TCR ß/ subsets.
Results:
Expression of TCR on tumor cells was found in five (33%) of 15 patients with precursor T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma, one (25%) of four with T-cell granular lymphocytic leukemia and five (26%) of 19 with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), whereas no expression was found in 11 patients with adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma. Primary sites of the five patients with PTCL were as follows: lymph node, three; skin, one and liver, tonsil and skin, one. The courses of the three patients with PTCL of nodal onset were very short (3, 5 and 9 months, respectively), and they were all resistant to combination chemotherapies.
Conclusions:
Although T-cell neoplasm constitutes a heterogeneous population, it is important to examine the expression of TCR with the view to identifying possible poor prognostic subgroups, such as primary nodal T-cell lymphoma.
Key words: T-cell neoplasm, nodal T-cell lymphoma, T-cell receptor