OncoTargets and Therapy (Aug 2020)

Atypical Mature T-Cell Neoplasms: The Relevance of the Role of Flow Cytometry

  • Statuto T,
  • D'Auria F,
  • Del Vecchio L,
  • Mansueto GR,
  • Villani O,
  • Lalinga AV,
  • Possidente L,
  • Nozza F,
  • Vona G,
  • Rago L,
  • Storto G,
  • Gasparini VR,
  • Zambello R,
  • D'Arena G,
  • Valvano L

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 7605 – 7614

Abstract

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Teodora Statuto,1,* Fiorella D’Auria,2,* Luigi Del Vecchio3,4,†, Giovanna Rosaria Mansueto,5 Oreste Villani,5 Anna Vittoria Lalinga6,†, Luciana Possidente,6 Filomena Nozza,1 Gabriella Vona,1 Luciana Rago,7 Giovanni Storto,8 Vanessa Rebecca Gasparini,9 Renato Zambello,10 Giovanni D’Arena,5,* Luciana Valvano1,* 1Laboratory of Clinical Research and Advanced Diagnostics, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 2Unit of Clinical Pathology, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 3CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.c.a.r.l, Federico II University, Naples, Italy; 4Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology (DMMBM), Federico II University, Naples, Italy; 5Hematology Department of Basilicata, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 6Pathology Unit, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 7Radiotherapy Unit, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 8Department of Nuclear Medicine, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, Italy; 9Department of Medicine, University of Padova - Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, VIMM, Padova, PD, Italy; 10Hematology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Padua School of Medicine, Padova, PD, Italy†Anna Vittoria Lalinga passed away on January 26, 2020 and Luigi Del Vecchio passed away on August 16, 2018*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Luciana ValvanoLaboratory of Clinical Research and Advanced Diagnostics, Centro Di Riferimento Oncologico Della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Pz, ItalyTel +39 0972 726395Fax +39 0972 723509Email [email protected]: Lymphoproliferative disorders are a heterogeneous group of malignant clonal proliferations of lymphocytes whose diagnosis remains challenging, despite diagnostic criteria are now well established, due to their heterogeneity in clinical presentation and immunophenotypic profile. Lymphoid T-cell disorders are more rarely seen than B-cell entities and more difficult to diagnose for the absence of a specific immunophenotypic signature. Flow cytometry is a useful tool in diagnosing T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders since it is not only able to better characterize T-cell neoplasms but also to resolve some very complicated cases, in particular those in which a small size population of neoplastic cells is available for the analysis. Here, we report three patients with mature T-cell neoplasms with atypical clinical and biological features in which analysis of peripheral blood and bone marrow specimens by means of multicolor flow cytometry was very useful to identify and characterize three rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders, such as angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified and T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. The aim of this case series report is not only to describe three rare cases of lymphoproliferative neoplasms but also to raise awareness that a fast, highly sensitive, and reproducible procedure, such as flow cytometry immunophenotyping, can have a determinant diagnostic role in these patients.Keywords: flow cytometry, immunophenotype, angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified, T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, diagnosis

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