[Clinical and laboratory features of T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia in China].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics and survival of Chinese patients with T- cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL).

METHODS

Eleven patients with T-PLL admitted in our hospital from Jan 2006 to Oct 2012 were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

Of the 11 patients, nine were males and two females, with the median age of 56.0(19-69) years old. All the patients, except for three, presented with leukocytosis. The incidence of hyperleukocytosis (1/11) was less frequent than that in the British series (75%) (P=0.000). Lymphocyte counts in peripheral blood were increased in 9 of the 11 patients with the median absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) of 17.22(0.58-148.83)×10⁹/L. Superficial lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly were the most common physical signs. It was common that serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta 2 microglobulin(β2-MG)were higher than normal level. All cases were positive for CD2/CD3/CD5/TCRαβ, negative for CD1a /HLA-DR and TdT, and most of them were strong positive for CD7 expression. By chromosome analyses, most cases. (9/10) have normal chromosome. This rate is significantly higher than that of the British and American series (3% and 25%, respectively) (P=0.000, P=0.001). The 14q11 abnormality and trisomy 8q, which are common among Western cases, were not observed in any of our cases. With a median follow-up of 23.0 months, three patients died. Two year progress free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 53.3% and 50%, respectively. There were 3 patients with PFS over a number of years, whether it should be considered as the T-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (T-CLL) is worthy of further studies.

CONCLUSION

The common clinical manifestations of T-PLL patients were increased lymphocyte counts and lymphadenopathy as well as splenomegaly. And most cases have high level of blood LDH and β2- MG and normal chromosome karyotype.