We treated 19 patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) with 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine. 15 patients followed up at least 6 months were evaluated. The follow up period varied between 6 months and 37 months (median, 19 months). 8 patients were previously treated. The overall response in 15 evaluable HCL patients was 100 %, with 87 % complete hematological remissions including three patients with retroperitoneal and mediastinal lymphadenopathy and one patient with leukemic infiltrates of the cornea; 13 % of patients achieved partial hematological remission. Soluble interleukin - 2 receptor (sIL-2R) considered as a reliable non-invasive marker of HCL tumor burden dropped from the median of 1350 pM/ml (range 188 to 9000 pM/ml) to the median of 84.3 pM/ml (range 37 to 382 pM/ml) RdW which reflects the anisocytosis of red cells decreased after therapy from the median of 20.6 % (range 13.1-25.0 %) to the median of 13.7 % (range 12.4-16.3 %).
