scholarly journals Chronic natural killer cell lymphocytosis: a descriptive clinical study

Blood ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 2721-2725 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Tefferi ◽  
CY Li ◽  
TE Witzig ◽  
MV Dhodapkar ◽  
SH Okuno ◽  
...  

Abstract We review the clinical manifestations and long-term outlook of patients with chronic natural killer (NK) cell lymphocytosis. After reviewing more than 1,500 peripheral blood lymphoid flow cytometry reports and molecular genetics data from patients with suspected large granular lymphocyte (LGL) proliferation, we identified 10 patients (median age at diagnosis, 60 years; range, 35 to 76 years; male:female ratio, 3:2) with persistent (greater than 6 months) increase in phenotypically determined NK cells (CD3-CD16+). Southern blot analysis performed on 9 patients showed no clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangements. Disease duration was measured from time of initial recognition of LGL or NK cell excess (greater than 40% of the lymphocyte fraction). Clinical data from these 10 patients were compared with those from 68 patients with T-cell LGL (T-LGL) leukemia. Currently, all patients are alive (median disease duration, 5 years; range, 0.8 to 8 years). Associated disease manifestations included pure red blood cell aplasia, recurrent neutropenia, recurrent neutropenic sepsis, and vasculitic syndromes, all of which were responsive to immunosuppressive therapy. No patient had palpable lymphadenopathy or splenomegaly. Compared with the patients with T-LGL leukemia, patients with chronic NK cell leukemia has similar lymphocyte counts, associated conditions, treatment responses, and survival but had less neutropenia and anemia.

Blood ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 2721-2725 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Tefferi ◽  
CY Li ◽  
TE Witzig ◽  
MV Dhodapkar ◽  
SH Okuno ◽  
...  

We review the clinical manifestations and long-term outlook of patients with chronic natural killer (NK) cell lymphocytosis. After reviewing more than 1,500 peripheral blood lymphoid flow cytometry reports and molecular genetics data from patients with suspected large granular lymphocyte (LGL) proliferation, we identified 10 patients (median age at diagnosis, 60 years; range, 35 to 76 years; male:female ratio, 3:2) with persistent (greater than 6 months) increase in phenotypically determined NK cells (CD3-CD16+). Southern blot analysis performed on 9 patients showed no clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangements. Disease duration was measured from time of initial recognition of LGL or NK cell excess (greater than 40% of the lymphocyte fraction). Clinical data from these 10 patients were compared with those from 68 patients with T-cell LGL (T-LGL) leukemia. Currently, all patients are alive (median disease duration, 5 years; range, 0.8 to 8 years). Associated disease manifestations included pure red blood cell aplasia, recurrent neutropenia, recurrent neutropenic sepsis, and vasculitic syndromes, all of which were responsive to immunosuppressive therapy. No patient had palpable lymphadenopathy or splenomegaly. Compared with the patients with T-LGL leukemia, patients with chronic NK cell leukemia has similar lymphocyte counts, associated conditions, treatment responses, and survival but had less neutropenia and anemia.


2000 ◽  
Vol 124 (10) ◽  
pp. 1510-1513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulette Mhawech ◽  
L. Jeffrey Medeiros ◽  
Carlos Bueso-Ramos ◽  
Donna M. Coffey ◽  
Alfredo F. Gei ◽  
...  

Abstract Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) can involve the gynecologic tract, most often as a manifestation of systemic involvement, and most cases reported have been of B-cell lineage. We describe 2 women with natural killer (NK)-cell lymphoma involving the gynecologic tract that initially presented with vaginal bleeding. In case 1, the patient had a stage IE nasal-type NK-cell lymphoma involving the cervix. The tumor was composed of medium-sized, irregular lymphoid cells with angioinvasion and necrosis. In case 2, the patient had a stage IV blastoid NK-cell lymphoma/leukemia infiltrating all organs in a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy specimen. Subsequent biopsy specimens revealed that the bone marrow and lymph nodes were also involved. The neoplasm was composed of small to medium lymphoid cells with fine nuclear chromatin. Case 1 was assessed immunohistochemically and the neoplastic cells were positive for CD3, CD56, and TIA-1. Case 2 was analyzed using both immunohistochemical and flow cytometry methods. The neoplastic cells were positive for cytoplasmic CD3, CD4, CD7, CD43, CD45, and CD56 and were negative for surface CD3. Both cases were negative for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) and molecular studies showed no evidence of T-cell receptor γ chain gene rearrangements. The immunophenotype and absence of T-cell receptor gene rearrangements support NK-cell origin. We report these cases to illustrate that NK-cell lymphomas can involve, and rarely arise in, the gynecologic tract.


Blood ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 1474-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
WR Macon ◽  
ME Williams ◽  
JP Greer ◽  
RD Hammer ◽  
AD Glick ◽  
...  

Natural killer (NK)-like T cells are major histocompatibility complex- unrestricted cytotoxic T cells that are surface CD3-positive, express NK-cell antigens, and rearrange their T-cell receptor. Most neoplasms arising from this T-cell subpopulation have been a chronic lymphoproliferative disease referred to as T-large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia. Only 10 NK-like T-cell lymphomas have been described in detail previously; this study presents the clinicopathologic features of six others and distinguishes these lymphomas from T-LGL leukemia. All patients presented with B-symptoms and often had marked hepatosplenomegaly without significant peripheral lymphadenopathy. Four of the six patients were immunosuppressed. All had CD3, CD8, CD56- positive tumors, presumably of hepatosplenic (n = 3), intestinal (n = 1), pulmonary (n = 1), or nodal (n = 1) origin. Three patients had lymphomatous bone marrow infiltrates, and four had peripheral blood involvement by neoplastic large lymphocytes, some of which had a blastic appearance or resembled virocytes. Azurophilic granules, ultrastructurally corresponding to cytoplasmic dense core and/or double density granules, were seen in all cases. T-cell clonality was shown in five tumors by Southern blot analysis, and three had abnormal karyotypes. Two untreated patients died 20 days after presentation, and three patients who received combination chemotherapy died within 5 months of presentation. One patient remains in complete remission 22 months after treatment. These findings suggest NK-like T-cell lymphomas are aggressive, are clinicopathologically distinct from T-LGL leukemia, and should be in the differential diagnosis of extranodal T-cell lymphoproliferations, including those in immunosuppressed patients. Furthermore, the LGL morphology, phenotype, and tissue distribution of some NK-like T-cell lymphomas suggest they arise from thymic- independent T cells of the hepatic sinusoids and intestinal mucosa.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (25) ◽  
pp. 5631-5637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kengo Takeuchi ◽  
Masahiro Yokoyama ◽  
Shin Ishizawa ◽  
Yasuhito Terui ◽  
Kimie Nomura ◽  
...  

Abstract Diagnostic errors in distinguishing between malignant and reactive processes can cause serious clinical consequences. We report 10 cases of unrecognized self-limited natural killer–cell proliferation in the stomach, designated as lymphomatoid gastropathy (LyGa). This study included 5 men and 5 women (age, 46-75 years) without any gastric symptoms. Gastroscopy showed elevated lesion(s) (diameter, ∼ 1 cm). Histologically, medium-sized to large atypical cells diffusely infiltrated the lamina propria and, occasionally, the glandular epithelium. The cells were CD2+/−, sCD3−, cCD3+, CD4−, CD5−, CD7+, CD8−, CD16−, CD20−, CD45+, CD56+, CD117−, CD158a−, CD161−, T cell–restricted intracellular antigen-1+, granzyme B+, perforin+, Epstein-Barr early RNA−, T-cell receptor αβ−, and T-cell receptor γδ−. Analysis of the 16 specimens biopsied from 10 patients led to a diagnosis of lymphoma or suspected lymphoma in 11 specimens, gastritis for 1 specimen, adenocarcinoma for 1 specimen, and LyGa or suspected LyGa for 3 specimens. Most lesions underwent self-regression. Three cases relapsed, but none of the patients died. According to conventional histopathologic criteria, LyGa is probably diagnosed as lymphoma, especially as extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type. However, LyGa is recognized as a pseudomalignant process because of its clinical characteristics. The concept of LyGa should be well recognized.


2020 ◽  
Vol 154 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-691
Author(s):  
Min Shi ◽  
Phuong Nguyen ◽  
Michael M Timm ◽  
Gregory E Otteson ◽  
Pedro Horna ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Distinguishing between T-cell and natural killer (NK)–cell neoplasms could be difficult given their overlapping immunophenotype. In this study, we investigated whether a flow cytometry assay with cytoplasmic staining for CD3 could be used for this purpose. Methods Flow cytometry immunophenotyping was performed on 19 surface CD3 (sCD3)–negative mature T-cell neoplasms, 10 sCD3-positive mature T-cell neoplasms, 13 mature NK-cell neoplasms, and 19 normal controls. In addition to routine antibody panels (CD2, sCD3, CD4, CD5, CD7, CD8, CD16, CD45, CD56, CD57, CD94, CD158a, CD158b, CD158e, NKG2A TCRγ/δ), cytoplasmic staining for a monoclonal CD3 antibody (clone SK7/Leu-4) was assessed in all cases. A molecular study for T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement and an immunohistochemical study for TCRβ were performed. Results Our data showed all T-cell neoplasms were uniformly positive for cytoplasmic CD3 (cCD3) regardless of sCD3 expression, whereas 85% of NK-cell neoplasms completely lacked cCD3 expression. The 2 cases with classic NK-cell immunophenotype but partial cCD3 expression showed no molecular genetic features of T-cell lineage by TCR gene rearrangement studies. Conclusions Uniform cCD3 positivity and homogeneous cCD3 negativity highly suggest T-cell and NK lineage, respectively. When partial cCD3 expression is encountered, additional confirmatory studies should be pursued for the most accurate lineage assignment.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (9) ◽  
pp. 2858-2866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanmei Han ◽  
Minghui Zhang ◽  
Nan Li ◽  
Taoyong Chen ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Natural killer (NK) cell inhibitory receptors play important roles in the regulation of target susceptibility to natural killing. Here, we report the molecular cloning and functional characterization of a novel NK cell receptor, KLRL1, from human and mouse dendritic cells. KLRL1 is a type II transmembrane protein with an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif and a C-type lectinlike domain. The KLRL1 gene is located in the central region of the NK gene complex in both humans and mice, on human chromosome 12p13 and mouse chromosome 6F3, adjacent to the other KLR genes. KLRL1 is preferentially expressed in lymphoid tissues and immune cells, including NK cells, T cells, dendritic cells, and monocytes or macrophages. Western blot and fluorescence confocal microscopy analyses indicated that KLRL1 is a membrane-associated glycoprotein, which forms a heterodimer with an as yet unidentified partner. Human and mouse KLRL1 are both predicted to contain putative immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs), and immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that KLRL1 associates with the tyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 (SH2-domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 1) and SHP-2. Consistent with its potential inhibitory function, pretreatment of target cells with human KLRL1-Fc fusion protein enhances NK-mediated cytotoxicity. Taken together, our results demonstrate that KLRL1 belongs to the KLR family and is a novel inhibitory NK cell receptor.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 121 (25) ◽  
pp. 4997-5005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Tse ◽  
Yok-Lam Kwong

Abstract Natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphomas and NK-cell leukemias are aggressive malignancies. Occurring worldwide, they show a predilection for Asian and South American populations. Neoplastic cells are surface CD3−, cytoplasmic CD3ε+, CD56+, cytotoxic-molecule positive, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive, with germline T-cell receptor gene. Lymphomas occur commonly in the nasal and upper aerodigestive region. Occasional cases present in the skin, salivary gland, testis, and gastrointestinal tract. Rare cases are disseminated with lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and a leukemic phase. Positron emission tomography computed tomography is useful in staging, as lymphomas are 18-fluorodeoxyglucose avid. Quantification of circulating EBV DNA is an accurate biomarker of tumor load. Nasal NK/T-cell lymphomas present mostly with stage I/II disease. Concomitant/sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy is standard treatment. Radiotherapy alone is inadequate because of high systemic failure rate. For stage III/IV nasal, nonnasal, and disseminated lymphomas, systemic chemotherapy is indicated. Regimens containing l-asparaginase and drugs unaffected by P-glycoprotein are most effective. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is not indicated for early-stage nasal lymphomas. HSCT for lymphomas not in remission has poor results. In advanced-stage nasal, nonnasal, disseminated, or relapsed lymphomas, HSCT may be considered when remission is achieved. Prognostic modeling and EBV DNA monitoring may be useful in risk stratification for HSCT.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6590-6590
Author(s):  
Kirsten Marie Boughan ◽  
Thomas P. Loughran

6590 Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze patients enrolled in the LGL leukemia registry to distinguish the similarities between LGL leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis in order to access overlapping immune mechanisms that may be responsible for neutrophil mediated destruction. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on 79 patients enrolled in the LGL registry at Penn State Cancer Institute. All patients enrolled in the study had a diagnosis of both rheumatoid arthritis and potentially LGL leukemia. Data was collected for age, sex, RF factor positivity, family history, autoimmune disease, T-cell receptor gene rearrangement, and bone marrow invasion. Results: Of 79 patients the mean age of onset for LGL leukemia was 60 years old with no discrepancy noted between sexes, 37 M, 42 F. 49 patients were positive for rheumatoid factor. 27 patients had rheumatoid arthritis in a first degree relative with no discrimination between maternal or paternal inheritance. 22 patients were positive for any other autoimmune process. 60 patients were positive for T-cell receptor gene rearrangement. Of the remaining 19 patients that were negative for T-cell receptor rearrangement, 12 had evidence of bone marrow invasion (CD3/CD8+ infiltrate in >20% bone marrow) and two showed bone marrow invasion of NK cell LGL (CD3/CD8-, CD57+) (Table). Conclusions: Patients with T cell LGL leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis appear to be clinically similar with regard to age, duration of disease, and other autoimmune disorders as patients with rheumatoid arthritis alone. Our patient population showed those with TLGL and RA also tends to have a positive family history of RA in up to 20% as opposed to 5-10% in RA patients. Given that RA and TLGL have a significantly higher expression of the HLA-DR4 haplotype than healthy patients, it is conceivable that with shared genetic alterations, and gene environment interactions that may promote posttranslational modification, there may be a loss of tolerance resulting in T cell activation, and eventual transformation into a T cell clone. [Table: see text]


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (24) ◽  
pp. 6387-6391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don M. Benson ◽  
Courtney E. Bakan ◽  
Shuhong Zhang ◽  
Shauna M. Collins ◽  
Jing Liang ◽  
...  

Abstract Multiple myeloma (MM) patients who receive killer cell Ig–like receptor (KIR) ligand–mismatched, T cell–depleted, allogeneic transplantation may have a reduced risk of relapse compared with patients who receive KIR ligand–matched grafts, suggesting the importance of this signaling axis in the natural killer (NK) cell-versus-MM effect. Expanding on this concept, IPH2101 (1-7F9), an anti-inhibitory KIR mAb, enhances NK-cell function against autologous MM cells by blocking the engagement of inhibitory KIR with cognate ligands, promoting immune complex formation and NK-cell cytotoxicity specifically against MM cell targets but not normal cells. IPH2101 prevents negative regulatory signals by inhibitory KIR, whereas lenalidomide augments NK-cell function and also appears to up-regulate ligands for activating NK-cell receptors on MM cells. Lenalidomide and a murine anti-inhibitory NK-cell receptor Ab mediate in vivo rejection of a lenalidomide-resistant tumor. These mechanistic, preclinical data support the use of a combination of IPH2101 and lenalidomide in a phase 2 trial for MM.


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