Occurrence of T-cell lymphoma in a patient with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia with rearrangements of BCR and TCR-beta genes in the lymph nodes

Philadelphia chromosome-negative non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurring in Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia: A case report and literature review

The current study reports the case of a patient with Philadelphia chromosome-negative (Ph^-) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and chronic phase (CP) Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph⁺) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that also possessed characteristic enlarged lymph nodes. A lymph node biopsy resulted in the diagnosis of CP-CML, in addition to T-lymphoblastic cell NHL with negative break point cluster/Abelson tyrosine kinase fusion genes in the lymph node of the patient, which was diagnosed as Ph^- NHL. A review of the literature was performed in the present study to investigate the genetic differences between Ph^- NHL and Ph⁺ NHL in patients with CML. The median age of patients with NHL and CML was 41 years. The follow-up time of patients with Ph⁺ NHL was significantly shorter (mean, <6 months) compared to the follow-up time of patients with Ph^- NHL (mean, >15 months). Therefore the present study concludes that Ph⁺ NHL may be more aggressive compared with Ph⁺ NHL. The present study suggests that additional studies are required to assess the clinical and genetic characteristics of NHL patients with CML.

Sudden extramedullary blast crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia manifesting as T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma

BACKGROUND

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is usually diagnosed in the chronic phase. An extramedullary blast crisis mimicking a T-cell lymphoma is a rare finding.

CASE REPORT

A 35-year-old man presented with multiple lymphadenopathy 2 months after diagnosis of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive CML in the chronic phase. Cervical lymph node biopsy later indicated an extramedullary blast crisis resembling T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (TLBL). The tumor mass was composed of primitive lymphoid cells expressing terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), CD3, CD43, CD5, CD99, and Bcl-2. Although the pathological diagnosis, confirmed by 2 independent pathological centers, was more typical of TLBL, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis showed the bcr-abl fusion gene within the blastic tumor cells. The FISH finding confirmed that the mass represented an extramedullary, immature blastic transformation of CML rather than a de novo T-cell lymphoma.

CONCLUSION

The diagnosis of de novo TLBL should be suspected before excluding the extramedullary blast phase of CML.

Ph-negative non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurring in chronic phase of Ph-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia is defined as a genetically different neoplasm from extramedullary localized blast crisis: report of two cases and review of the literature

This report describes two cases of Philadelphia chromosome-negative (Ph(-)) non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) recognized in patients with chronic phase Ph-positive (Ph(+)) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Lymph node biopsy of patient 1 was initially diagnosed as diffuse large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL, T cell rich variant), but at relapse showed immunoblastic features with a marked decrease of admixed lymphocyte components. Patient 2 presented with thickened parietal pleura which revealed a CD30-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma showing null cell phenotype and genotype with abundant admixed neutrophils and lymphocytes. At the time of lymphoma diagnosis, the patients had CML for 33 and 10 months, respectively. DNA obtained from bone marrow cells at the time of lymphoma diagnosis showed BCR/ABL gene rearrangements by both Southern blot analysis and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), but lacked both immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene rearrangements. BCR gene rearrangement and BCR/ABL fusion gene were also identified in lymph node and pleural biopsies by Southern blot and RT-PCR analysis, respectively. However, both biopsy specimens also contained reactive lymphocytes and neutrophils, and no fusion signals between BCR and ABL genes were identified in the hyperdiploid lymphoma cells of either case by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). These data suggest the lymphoma cells in both cases were not genetically associated with BCR/ABL. Therefore, these cases were not diagnosed as an extramedullary localized blast crisis in CML, but as Ph(-) NHLs. This represents the first definitive demonstration of peripheral B cell lymphoma occurring by a separate genetic pathway, lacking BCR/ABL, in patients with Ph(+) CML. A review of the literature identified two different subtypes of malignant lymphomas arising in patients with an antecedent or concurrent diagnosis of CML. The most common are T cell lymphomas displaying an immature thymic phenotype, while peripheral B cell lymphomas are more rare. Our study shows, however, that 'Ph(+) NHL' occurring in CML or acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) may represent an unrelated neoplasm, even if standard cytogenetic analysis reveals a Ph(+) chromosome, and that FISH is required to confirm whether a localized lymphoid neoplasm is either a true extramedullary localized blast crisis or genetically distinct neoplasm. Leukemia(2000) 14, 169-182.

Philadelphia-like translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11) found in a follicular lymphoma involving not BCR and ABL but IGL-mediated rearrangement of an unknown gene on 9q34

In a case of follicular center cell lymphoma (FCCL) without evidence of histologic progression towards a high-grade lymphoma, t(9;22)(q34;q11) was found simultaneously with a t(14;18)(q32;q21) and a t(8;14)(q24;q32). Molecular studies of this case showed BCL2 and MYC rearrangements in addition to the rearrangements of immunoglobulin heavy (IGH) and lambda (IGL) loci. Investigation of the t(9;22) using Southern blot and RT-PCR analysis failed to detect M-bcr or m-bcr rearrangements of BCR. Two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with ABL and BCR probes revealed presence of a "fusion" signal, but its atypical localization [der(9)] and gene order [cen-ABL-BCR-tel] indicated that this translocation differed from the t(9;22) in chronic myeloid leukemia and did not involve either ABL or BCR. In addition, further FISH analysis using 9q34- and 22q11-specific probes localized the breakpoint on chromosome 9 distal to the NOTCH1 gene and the breakpoint on 22q11 in the IGL gene cluster. These results indicate an IGL-mediated rearrangement of an unknown gene at 9q34 that together with BCL2 and MYC might be involved in the lymphomagenesis of the present case of FCCL and perhaps in other cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which t(9;22) is sporadically occurring.