title: The cutaneous form of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in a woman from the Ivory Coast. Clinical, immunovirologic studies and a review of the African adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma cases.
abstract: A 36-year-old woman from Ivory Coast, who has lived in France since 1976, had multiple cutaneous nodules and tumors in 1988. Histopathologic studies showed a massive infiltration of the dermis and hypodermis by a diffuse proliferation of mature activated T-cells (CD4-positive, CD25-positive, HLA-DR-positive) with irregular nuclei. The patient did not present with a leukemic picture and only few lymphoid cells with abnormally shaped nuclei were present in the blood. Human T leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) antibodies were present in the serum and specific HTLV-I pol sequences were detected in the DNA extracted from the tumor nodules and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using the polymerase chain reaction technique. Whereas only a polyclonal integration of HTLV-I provirus was detectable in the PBMC, a clonal integration of three HTLV-I proviruses was demonstrated in the tumor nodules DNA, establishing with certainty the diagnosis of HTLV-I-induced adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL). This case illustrates the need for molecular studies to differentiate without ambiguity an ATL from any other type of cutaneous lymphoproliferation, even when it occurs in a HTLV-I-seropositive individual. The situation of HTLV-I-associated ATL in Africa is reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory d'Hématologie Moléculaire, Hopital St Louis, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gessain
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caumes
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feyeux
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: d'Agay
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capesius
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gentilini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral