Immunophenotypic analysis of adult patients with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma treated with hyper-CVAD.

OBJECTIVES: Immunophenotype is an important prognostic factor for childhood and adult T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. However, immunophenotypic data from adult patients with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) are scarcely available. METHODS: Subjects were unselected adult patients with T-LBL who were treated with intensive chemotherapy. Immunophenotyping of tumor cells was performed according to standard techniques. RESULTS: A total of eight patients with a median age of 31 years were analyzed who received hyper-CVAD treatment for LBL. Immunophenotypic analysis showed that the most common tumor type was cortical T-cell type [early T (n = 2), cortical T (n = 4), and medullary T (n = 2)]. Two patients diagnosed with early T-cell type had early disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of T-cell differentiation stages in malignant T lymphoblasts would be important in choosing treatment strategies for adult patients with T-LBL.