Tn polyagglutination preceding acute leukemia.

Tn polyagglutination (persistent mixed-field polyagglutination) was detected in the blood of a 66-yr-old male laborer at the time of a splenectomy for life-threatening thrombocytopenia. Confirmation that the polyagglutination was caused by Tn activation was established by the use of lectins, by failure of the patient's red cells to react with sera from other patients with Tn polyagglutination, by weak aggregation with polybrene, by low red cell sialic acid levels, and by the persistence of polyagglutination over several years of testing. Two years after the discovery of the Tn polyagglutination, the patient developed acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Vigorous chemotherapy regimens resulted in clinical remission of the leukemia and the Tn polyagglutination. This report describes the first known case of Tn polyagglutination preceding the development of acute myelogenous leukemia.