Increased peripheral blood gamma delta T-cells in patients with lymphoid neoplasia: A diagnostic dilemma in flow cytometry.

We have observed increased numbers of non-neoplastic gammadelta-T-cells in the peripheral blood of a series of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma not of gammadelta-T-cell origin. The majority of normal gammadelta-T-cells are negative for surface CD4 and CD8 and a subpopulation does not express CD5, two immunophenotypic findings strongly suggestive of neoplasia in alpha beta T-cells. In addition, they express cytotoxic T-cell/Natural killer cell antigens. In this study, up to 22% of PBLs were CD4 and CD8 negative gammadelta-T-cells and up to 33% PBLs were CD5 negative gammadelta-T-cells. In addition, as high as 42% of PBLS were gammadelta-T-cells expressing cytotoxic T-cell/Natural killer cell antigens, suggestive of a large granular lymphoproliferative disorder. Failure to recognize that these are normal gammadelta-T-cells could lead to the erroneous diagnosis of peripheral blood involvement with a T-cell neoplasm, especially in the setting of a history of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cytometry (Comm. Clin. Cytometry) 38:280-285, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

[1]  C. Copie-Bergman,et al.  Nonhepatosplenic γδ T-Cell Lymphoma: A Subset of Cytotoxic Lymphomas With Mucosal or Skin Localization , 1998 .

[2]  T. Greiner,et al.  Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma: a distinct clinicopathologic entity of cytotoxic gamma delta T-cell origin. , 1996, Blood.

[3]  A. Gee,et al.  Rapid Communication: Increased Frequency of TCRγδ+ T Cells in Disease-Free Survivors Following T Cell-Depleted, Partially Mismatched, Related Donor Bone Marrow Transplantation for Leukemia , 1996 .

[4]  J. Bluestone,et al.  Murine gamma/delta-expressing T cells affect alloengraftment via the recognition of nonclassical major histocompatibility complex class Ib antigens. , 1996, Blood.

[5]  J. Bluestone,et al.  TCRγδ cells: A specialized T-cell subset in the immune system , 1995 .

[6]  T. Greiner,et al.  Flow cytometric detection of neoplastic T cells in patients with mycosis fungoides based on levels of T-cell receptor expression. , 1994, American journal of clinical pathology.

[7]  Mark M. Davis,et al.  The nature of major histocompatibility complex recognition by γδ T cells , 1994, Cell.

[8]  B. Formby,et al.  Comparison of Cytolytic and Proliferative Activities of Human γδ and αβ T Cells From Peripheral Blood Against Various Human Tumor Cell Lines , 1991 .

[9]  J. Bluestone,et al.  Extrathymic selection of TCR γδ + T cells by class II major histocompatibility complex molecules , 1990, Cell.

[10]  F. Faure,et al.  The gamma/delta T cell receptor expressed on human peripheral blood lymphocytes. , 1990, European Cytokine Network.

[11]  M. Cooper,et al.  Tissue localization and CD8 accessory molecule expression of T gamma delta cells in humans. , 1989, Journal of immunology.

[12]  R. Warnke,et al.  Human lymphocytes bearing T cell receptor gamma/delta are phenotypically diverse and evenly distributed throughout the lymphoid system , 1989, The Journal of experimental medicine.

[13]  D. Raulet.  The structure, function, and molecular genetics of the gamma/delta T cell receptor. , 1989, Annual review of immunology.