Two cases of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma with CD4^- and CD8⁺

Abstract

Two cases of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) with unusual surface markers such as CD4^- and CD8⁺ have been reported.
Case 1: A 77-year-old male was admitted to our hospital with complaints of abdominal pain and swelling of testis and lymph nodes. Case 2: A 65-year-old male noticed a lymph node swelling in his right submandibular region. Lymph nodes taken from both patients were diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma under histological examination. Integration of HTLV-I proviral DNA in the lymphoma cells and positive HTLV-I antibody in the serum disclosed that these cases were indeed ATLL although tumor cells expressed an unusual combination of the surface markers i.e. CD4^- and CD8⁺. There have been reports as to heterogeneity of the surface markers in ATLL. We believe that these cases could be a rare variant of ATLL.