Follicular lymphoma with leukemic phase at diagnosis: a series of seven cases and review of the literature.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a prevalent type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States and Europe. Although, FL typically presents with nodal involvement, extranodal sites are less common, and leukemic phase at diagnosis is rare. There is mounting evidence that leukemic presentation portends a worse prognosis in patients with FL. We describe 7 patients with a pathological diagnosis of FL who presented with a leukemic phase. We compared our cases with 24 additional cases reported in the literature. Based on our results, patients who present with leukemic FL tend to have higher risk disease. Leukemic FL also seems to be associated with a worse prognosis; however, larger studies are needed to confirm our findings. A discrepancy with previously reported cases of FL in leukemic phase raises the possibility of differences attributable to geographic regions.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 carriers.

We describe the clinical and pathological characteristics of seven patients who were human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) carriers and had a pathological diagnosis of de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Interestingly, three of our cases showed positive expression of Epstein-Barr-virus, (EBV-) encoded RNA within the tumor cells indicating a possible interaction between these two viruses. Furthermore, our three EBV-positive cases presented with similar clinical characteristics such as early clinical stage and low-risk indices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case series describing the characteristics of HTLV-1-positive DLBCL patients. The potential relationship between HTLV-1 and EBV should be further explored.