Large Granular Lymphocytosis in a Patient Infected with HTLV-II

Abstract

HTLV-II has been associated with a variety of lymphoproliferative disorders, including atypical hairy cell leukemia, chronic T cell leukemia, T prolymphocytic leukemia, and large granular lymphocytic leukemia. However, a direct or indirect role for HTLV-II in these disorders is not yet firmly established. We studied a patient diagnosed as having leukemia of the large granular lymphocyte (LGL) type who was HTLV-II seropositive, to determine if the expanded cell population was infected. Two populations of CD3^-CD16⁺ LGL were identified: one was CD8⁺, the other CD8^-. Populations of cells with these surface markers as well as normal CD3⁺CD4⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺ cells were separated by flow cytometric methods, DNA extracted, and gene regions of HTLV-II pol and tax amplified, using the polymerase chain reaction, and probed after Southern blotting. HTLV-II was detected in the CD3⁺CD8⁺ population, and not in the CD3^-CD16⁺ large granular lymphocyte population. This finding indicates that the role of HTLV-II, if any, in LGL proliferation is indirect.