Mod Pathol. 2023 Mar 28:100169. doi: 10.1016/j.modpat.2023.100169. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a mature T-cell tumor caused by human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The typical ATLL immunophenotypes are described in the 2017 World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues (positive: CD2, CD3, CD5, CD4, CD25; negative: CD7, CD8, cytotoxic markers; partially positive: CD30, CCR4, FOXP3). However, limited studies are available on the expression of these markers and their mutual relationship remains unknown. Furthermore, the expression status of novel markers associated with T-cell lymphomas, including Th1 markers (T-bet and CXCR3), Th2 markers (GATA3 and CCR4), T follicular helper (TFH) markers (BCL6, PD1, and ICOS), and T-cell receptor (TCR) markers, and their clinicopathological significance is unclear. In this study, we performed >20 immunohistochemical stains in 117 ATLL cases to determine the comprehensive immunophenotypic profile of ATLL, which were compared based on clinicopathological factors, including morphological variants (pleomorphic vs. anaplastic), biopsy locations, treatments, Shimoyama classification-based clinical subtype, and overall survival. CD3+/CD4+/CD25+/CCR4+ was considered a typical immunophenotype of ATLL, but approximately 20% of cases did not conform to this pattern. Simultaneously, the following new findings were obtained: (1) a majority of cases were both negative for TCR-β and TCR-δ (104 cases, 88.9%), indicating the usefulness of negative conversion of TCR expression to provide differentiation from other T-cell tumors; (2) the positivity of CD30 and CD15 and the negativity of FOXP3 and CD3 were significantly associated with anaplastic morphology; and (3) atypical cases, such as TFH marker-positive (12 cases, 10.6%) and cytotoxic molecule-positive cases (3 cases, 2.6%), were identified. No single markers could predict the overall survival among patients with acute/lymphoma subtypes of ATLL. The results of this study illustrate the diversity of ATLL phenotypes. In T-cell tumors occurring in HTLV-1 carriers, the possibility of ATLL should not be eliminated even when the tumor exhibits an atypical phenotype, and the confirmation of HTLV-1 in the tissue is recommended.
PMID:36997002 | DOI:10.1016/j.modpat.2023.100169
