Miyazaki Koji, Ohsaka Manabu, Suzuki Yuhko, Danbara Mikio, Horie Ryouichi, Higashihara Masaaki
Department of Hematology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara.
Intern Med. 2009;48(16):1443-7. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.48.2141. Epub 2009 Aug 17.
CD20-positive T-cell malignancy is a rare disease. We report a case of CD20-positive T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia (T-LGLL). The leukemic cells were positive for CD20 and T cell markers, such as CD3, CD4, CD5, CD8 and CD57. A monoclonal rearrangement of the T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chain gene was detected. Twenty-three cases of well-documented CD20-positive T-cell malignancies were reviewed. Most cases were mature T-cell malignancies, especially exhibiting a cytotoxic T-cell phenotype, despite a diversity of the pathological diagnoses. Additional cases must be evaluated to clarify the implications of CD20 expression on T-cell malignancies and to elucidate whether such cases constitute a distinct biologic and clinical disease entity. The accumulation of cases will help to facilitate provision of a proper treatment for CD20-positive T-cell malignancies in the future.
