title: Flow cytometric identification of immunophenotypically aberrant T-cell clusters on skin shave biopsy specimens from patients with mycosis fungoides.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the ability of flow cytometry (FC) to detect putative neoplastic T-cell subsets on skin shave biopsy (SSB) specimens from patients with mycosis fungoides (MF) and to study the immunophenotype of skin-infiltrating tumor cells in MF.
  
  
  METHODS
  SSB specimens from patients with suspected MF were bisected and submitted for both FC and routine histopathology. Six-dimensional gating strategies were applied to identify putative neoplastic cells, independently from their expected immunophenotype.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aberrant T cells were detected by FC in 18 of 33 SBB specimens, of which all had clinicomorphologic features of MF. Of the remaining 15 SSB specimens, six had clinicomorphologic features of MF and nine were diagnosed with benign inflammatory dermatoses. Unexpectedly, CD26 was aberrantly overexpressed in 11 (73%) and lost in three (20%) of 15 SSB specimens from patients with MF where this antigen was evaluated. Other detected aberrancies included CD3 dim- (13/18 [72%]), CD7 dim- (15/18 [83%]), and CD4-/CD8- (3/18 [17%]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FC is capable of identifying putative neoplastic cells on SSB specimens from patients with MF. Bright homogeneous CD26 expression is a common and previously undescribed immunophenotypic aberrancy on MF skin infiltrates.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pedro.Horna@Moffitt.org.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Horna
authors.affiliation: The Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kurant
authors.affiliation: Malignant Hematology, and.
authors.forename: Lubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sokol
authors.affiliation: Malignant Hematology, and.
authors.forename: Eduardo M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sotomayor
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moscinski
authors.affiliation: Dermatology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; and.
authors.forename: L Frank
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Glass
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Dermatopathology; Flow cytometry; Hematopathology; Mycosis fungoides