TRANSLOCATION (3-5)(P26-Q13) IN A PATIENT WITH CHRONIC T-CELL LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDER

A 67-yeur-old patient with large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia is described, At fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis of the peripheral blood, the lymphocytes were positive for CD3, CD4, CD5, CD29, CD45RA, CD57, and TCR alpha/beta and negative for CD7, CD8, CD1 6, CD56, CD19, CD22, and TCR gamma/delta. Bone marrow histology and im munohistochemistry did not reveal any lymphocyte infiltration. Cytogen etic examination of peripheral blood cultures showed a clone with the karyotype 46,XY,t(3;5)(p26;q13). Molecular analysis revealed rearrange ment of the gamma-T-cell-recepiar chain. The region 3p25-3p26 which ha rbors the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene and the RAF1 oncogen e has been rearranged in a few cases of T-cell leukemia. The transloca tion in this case has not yet been described and may reflect an altern ative mechanism in the pathogenesis of these disorders. (C) Elsevier S cience Inc., 1998.