T-prolymphocytic leukaemia with spontaneous remission.
T-prolymphocytic leukaemia (T-PLL) is a rare dis-order with a poor prognosis. A 69-year-old man was diagnosed as having a small-cell variant of T-PLL according to the French-American-British classification by haematological, immunological and ultrastructural studies, although the cells had a CD7- phenotype and no chromosomal abnormality. He had no symptoms or organomegaly. The number of his lymphocytes, 53.7 x 109/l at the time of diagnosis, gradually decreased without therapy, and he was in complete remission 39 months later. A rearranged band in the T-cell antigen receptor-beta gene, which was detected at the time of diagnosis, decreased or disappeared. This is the first report of a T-PLL case with spontaneous complete remission.
Shichishima
T
T
First Department of Internal Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan.
Kawaguchi
M
M
MacHii
T
T
Matsuoka
R
R
Ogawa
K
K
Maruyama
Y
Y
D000368:Aged; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D019674:Genes, T-Cell Receptor beta / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015463:Leukemia, Prolymphocytic / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009365:Neoplasm Regression, Spontaneous