Abstract
Chronic proliferations of natural killer (NK) cells (CD3- CD16+) are identified initially by detecting large granular lymphocyte (LGL) excess in a peripheral blood smear and subsequent lymphocyte immunophenotyping by flow cytometry. A related disease, T-LGL leukemia, has an indolent clinical course with chronic neutropenia and a close association with rheumatoid arthritis. Herein are described the clinical presentation and long-term clinical course of patients with chronic NK cell lymphocytosis (CNKL). The majority of the 14 patients followed up for a median of 4 years presented with severe cytopenias or vasculitic syndromes that were responsive to immunosuppressive therapy. Other manifestations included fever and arthralgias. In general, the disease was nonprogressive and had a course similar to that of T-LGL leukemia.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 245-248 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Leukemia and Lymphoma |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 3-4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1996 |
Keywords
- Cytopenia
- Immunosuppression
- Leukemia
- Natural killer cells
- Peripheral blood smear
- Vasculitic syndrome
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Cancer Research