Prolymphocytic leukemia

Prolymphocytic leukemia Main page
Patient Information B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia Patient Information T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia Patient Information
Overview
Causes
Classification B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia
Differentiating B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia from T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Carlos A Lopez, M.D. [2], Maria Fernanda Villarreal, M.D. [3]

For more information regarding B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, please click here.
For more information regarding T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, please click here.

Overview

Prolymphocytic leukemia is a rare lymphoid leukemia, which account for only about 2% of all mature lymphoid leukemias. Prolymphocytic leukemias present similar to leukemia. Like lymphomas, they originate in the lymphocytes, but do not form solid tumors. Prolymphocytic leukemias are also considered lymphoproliferative disorders, which lymphocytes are produced in large amounts. Prolymphocytic leukemia may be classified according to the type of cell involved: B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia and T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. Originally, it was thought to be a rare variation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but is now considered a distinct disease. It is usually classified as a kind of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Although these 2 types of prolymphocytic leukemias share some of the same characteristics, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies them as different types of lymphoid leukemias.

Classification

For more details about each specific type of prolymphocytic leukemia, please select:

Prolymphocytic leukemia

B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia

T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia

Differentiating B-Prolymphocytic Leukemia from T-Prolymphocytic Leukemia

In order to distinguish B-prolymphocytic leukemia from T-prolymphocytic leukemia, see the table below.

Characteristics	B-cell Prolymphocytic Leukemia	T-cell Prolymphocytic Leukemia
Epidemiology	Rare	Very rare
Age	60-70 years	60-70 years
Onset	Elevated white blood cell count > 100,000/microL Hepatosplenomegaly	Elevated white blood cell count > 100,000/microL Splenomegaly Generalized lymphadenopathy Occasional skin involvement
Clinical Features	B symptoms Fever Swelling of lymph nodes Night sweats Persistent fatigue	Fever Persistent fatigue Weight loss
Diagnosis	Peripheral blood smear Prolymphocytes (90%) Biomarkers CD20+	Peripheral blood smear Medium-sized lymphoid cells Moderately condensed chromatin and a visible nucleolus Biomarkers CD52+

Differentiating Prolymphocytic Leukemia from other Leukemias

Differential Diagnosis	Surface Immunoglobulin	CD5	CD22/FMC7	CD23	CD79b	CD103
Prolymphocytic leukaemia	Strongly positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
Hairy cell leukaemia	Strongly positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Positive/Negative	Positive
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	Weakly positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Positive/Negative
Mantle cell lymphoma	Positive	Positive	Strongly positive	Negative	Strongly positive	Negative
Follicular lymphoma	Strongly positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Strongly positive	Negative

References

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