Surface markers in lymphoproliferative disorders in Jamaica - abstract

ABSTRACT

No data have been reported on surface marker studies on haematological malignancies in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Surface marker studies were performed on 14 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and eleven patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) using rosetting and immunofluorescent techniques on lymphocytes separated by a density gradient flotation method. Twelve of the 14 NHL patients had T-cell disease, indicating that the cell origin of NHL in Jamaica differs from that reported in North America or Europe, where B-cell disease predominates. Nine of 11 were HTLV-antibody-positive, suggesting that they had adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma. Ten of the 11 CLL patients had B-Cll, similar to findings elsewhere. However, the frequency of HTLV-antibody-positivity was unexpectedly high in this group (35 percent) and a virus has been isolated from the T-cells of one of the B-CLL patients (AU)