Lee Po-Shing, Lin Ching-Nan, Chuang Shih-Sung
Department of Pathology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Yungkang City, Tainan, Taiwan.
Pathol Res Pract. 2003;199(8):539-45. doi: 10.1078/0344-0338-00459.
Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is a distinct form of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) frequently involving lymph nodes, spleen and bone marrow, and is associated with systemic symptoms. Its histologic features may be subtle at an early phase and difficult to diagnose. Despite the success of flow cytometry (FCM) in diagnosing B-cell neoplasm, FCM has not been widely accepted as a useful method for establishing the diagnosis of PTCL. Recently, the neoplastic T-cells in AITL have been shown to express CD10. We prospectively applied multiparameter FCM immunophenotyping to three cases of histologically confirmed AITL and identified a small (5-7%) population of CD4+/CD10+ T-cells in two cases. In one case, the CD4+/CD10+ population lacked surface signals of CD3 and CD7, but strongly expressed CD2, whereas CD45 expression was very weak; partial loss of surface CD3 was observed in the other. None of the lymph nodes with reactive hyperplasia, B-cell lymphomas, or Hodgkin's lymphoma studied during the same time period contained the CD4+/CD10+ population. These findings suggest that addition of CD4/CD10 and CD3/CD10 to FCM immunophenotyping panels is useful in the diagnosis of AITL. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate CD10-expressing T-cells in AITL by FCM.
血管免疫母细胞性T细胞淋巴瘤（AITL）是外周T细胞淋巴瘤（PTCL）的一种独特形式，常累及淋巴结、脾脏和骨髓，并伴有全身症状。其组织学特征在早期可能不明显，难以诊断。尽管流式细胞术（FCM）在诊断B细胞肿瘤方面取得了成功，但FCM尚未被广泛接受为诊断PTCL的有效方法。最近，已证明AITL中的肿瘤性T细胞表达CD10。我们前瞻性地对3例经组织学确诊的AITL病例应用多参数FCM免疫表型分析，在2例中鉴定出一小群（5-7%）CD4+/CD10+ T细胞。在1例中，CD4+/CD10+群体缺乏CD3和CD7的表面信号，但强烈表达CD2，而CD45表达非常弱；在另一例中观察到表面CD3部分缺失。在同一时期研究的反应性增生淋巴结、B细胞淋巴瘤或霍奇金淋巴瘤中，均未发现CD4+/CD10+群体。这些发现表明，在FCM免疫表型分析中加入CD4/CD10和CD3/CD10有助于AITL的诊断。据我们所知，这是首次通过FCM证明AITL中存在表达CD10的T细胞的报告。
