Polycythaemia rubra vera transforming to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with a common immunophenotype.
Lymphoblastic transformation of polycythaemia rubra vera is an extremely rare phenomenon. A case of a 76 year old man with polycythaemia rubra vera who developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) 16 years after his initial diagnosis is reported. Membrane markers showed a CD10 positive (common ALL) immunophenotype. To our knowledge this association has not been previously recorded. The rare occurrence of ALL in polycythaemia rubra vera may indicate that in a minority of patients clonal expansion of an abnormal pluripotent haemopoietic stem cell is responsible for the polycythaemia rubra vera disease phenotype.
Department of Haematology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
J R
JR
Neilson
W N
WN
Patton
M D
MD
Williams
E E
EE
Mayne
B J
BJ
Boughton
D000368:Aged; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D015260:Neprilysin / Q000032:analysis*; D011087:Polycythemia Vera / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
D015260:Neprilysin